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Copyright,  1897, 

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CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Our  Country  Response  by  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  at  a 
banquet  of  the  Iroquois  Club,  at  Chicago,  March  15,  1882. . . 7 

Andrew  Jackson.  Response  by  Hon.  William  F.  Vilas  of  Wis- 
consin  at  a banquet  of  the  Iroquois  Club,  at  Chicago,  March 

15,  Ioo2 

Business  Education  and  Education  Among  Business  Men  Re- 
sponse by  Hon  William  F.  Vilas,  of  Wisconsin,  at  a ban- 
quet of  the  Milwaukee  Merchants’  Association,  Milwaukee 
June  5,  1804 

^Ur*;ri0t:e^i  ^£,?on,se  by  James  G.  Jenkins,  at  a banquet  of  the 
Milwaukee  Merchants’  Association,  June  5,  1884 

The  Jury.  Response  by  George  W.  Wakefield,  at  a banquet  of 
the  Iowa  State  Bar  Association,  at  Davenport,  1896 

Our  Country.  Response  by  Hon.  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  at  a ban- 
quet of  the  Iroquois  Club,  at  Chicago,  April  13,  1883 

Demw-'irCy:  iFwm  Pre,sent  and  Future.  Response  by  Hon. 
n.',hamf  rJ‘aS’  Wisconsin,  at  a banquet  of  the  Iroquois 

Manifest  Destiny.  Response  by  Col.  W.  C.  P.  Breckenridge,  of 
Kentucky,  at  a banquet  of  the  Iroquois  Club,  Chicago,  April 
I3>  I003 

J Great  Northwest.  Response  by  Gen.  John  C.  Black,  of 
[3  1883  ^ * banquet  of  the  Iro1uois  Club,  Chicago,  April 

--^fcMep  Pf?P°ns«  by  Rev.  William  E.  Park,’ ai ’a  dinner 
of  the  Republican  Club,  New  York,  February  15,  1896 64 

The  Home  of  Lincoln.  Response  by  Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch  of 
Chicago,  at  a dinner  of  the  Republican  Club,  New  York, 
November  15,  1896 _ ’ 7g 

The  Republican  Party.  Response  by  Hon.  Joseph  b'  Foraker, 
of  Ohio,  at  a dinner  of  the  Republican  Club,  of  New  York 
February  15,  1896 ’ g4 

Abraham  Lincoln  Response  by  Hon.  Chauncey  M.  Depew  at 
a dinner  of  the  Republican  Club,  New  York,  February’ 15, 

1 90 92 


11 


1 7 


23 


29 


33 


4i 


49 


58 


Paje. 


Dinners.  Response  by  Hon.  John  B.  Green,  at  a “stag”  dinner 
of  Commonwealth  Council,  R.  A.,  at  the  Clarendon 

Hotel,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  in  the  winter  of  1886 

The  Ladies.  Response  by  Hon.  John  B.  Green,  New  York,  at  a 
banquet  at  Westfield,  N.  J.,  in  celebration  of  the  city’s  one 
hundredth  birthday  

George  Washington.  Response  by  Hon.  John  B.  Green,  of  New 
York,  at  a dinner  in  honor  of  Washington’s  birthday  at 

Westfield,  N.  J.,  February  22,  1894 

Danger  Ahead.  Response  by  Henry  Wollman,  of  Kansas  City, 
at  the  second  annual  banquet  of  the  Commercial  Law 

League  of  America,  at  Omaha,  July  21,  1896 

Speech  of  Hon.  John  B.  Green,  president  of  the  Brooklyn 
Republican  League,  at  a dinner  in  honor  of  the  birthday  of 

Abraham  Lincoln,  at  Remsen  Hall,  February  13,  1888 

Our  Country.  Response  by  Frank  T.  Lodge,  of  Detroit,  at  a 

Decoration  Day  banquet,  held  at  Detroit,  May  30,  1893 

President  Grant  and  San  Domingo.  Response  by  Hon.  William 
Alden  Smith,  of  Michigan,  at  the  annual  banquet  of  the 
Middlesex  Club,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  at  a dinner  in  honor  of 

the  birthday  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  April  27,  1895 

Doctors,  Lawyers,  Preachers,  Business  Men.  Response  by 
Joseph  B.  Connell,  B.  S.,  LL.  B.,  M.  D.,  Kansas  City,  at  a 
banquet  of  the  Michigan  University  Alumni,  at  Kansas 

City,  April,  1896 

The  Legal  Profession.  Response  by  Frank  T.  Lodge,  of  Detroit, 
at  the  annual  banquet  of  the  Michigan  College  of  Medicine 

and  Surgery,  at  Detroit,  March  6,  1895 

The  Lawyer.  Response  by  H.  H.  Wilson,  of  Lincoln,  Neb.,  at  a 
re-union  of  the  Union  Literary  Society  of  the  University  of 

Nebraska,  June,  1883. 

A Doctor’s  Impression  Concerning  Lawyers.  Response  by  Dr. 
G.  Frank  Lydston,  representing  Kent  College  of  Law,  at  the 
first  annual  banquet  of  the  Law  Student’s  Association  of 

Chicago 

Wampum,  or  the  Free  Coinage  of  Clams.  Response  by  Joseph 
C.  Hendrix,  of  New  York,  at  a dinner  of  the  New  England 

Society,  Brooklyn,  December  21,  1894 

Chauncey  M.  Depew  to  Tramps 

The  Federal  Judiciary.  Response  by  Judge  P.  S.  Grosscup  of 

Chicago,  at  a banquet  of  the  Illinois  Bar,  July  16,  1896 

The  Advocate.  Response  by  J.  J.  McCarthy,  of  Duluth,  at  a 
banquet  of  the  Iowa  State  Bar  Association,  Des  Moines,  July 

20,  1896 

Nebraska  Harvest.  Response  by  Hon.  E.  M.  Bartlett,  of  Omaha, 
at  a banquet  of  the  Millers  of  Nebraska,  at  Omaha,  August 
3L  1896 


98 

101 

106 

108 

1 12 
1 16 

121 

129 

134 

141 

143 

149 

154 

160 

162 

166 


Page. 


Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Brakemen.  Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge, 
of  Burlington,  la.,  at  a banquet  at  the  annual  convention  of 
the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Brakemen  in  the  city  of  Bur- 
lington, October  19,  1885 171 

St.  Valentine.  Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  of  Burlington,  la., 
at  a banquet  of  the  Des  Moines  Press  Club,  at  Des  Moines, 

la.,  February  14,  1888 174 

The  Sacred  Mistletoe.  Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  at  a banquet 
of  the  United  and  Ancient  Order  of  Druids,  at  Burlington, 

la.,  June  14,  1893 179 

The  Ladies.  Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  at  a Bar  banquet  at 

Burlington,  la.,  December  30,  1886 182 

Hancock,  the  Superb.  Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  art  a G.  A.  R. 

Campfire  at  Burlington,  la.,  December  18,  1887 183 

The  Anchor  and  Shield.  Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  at  a 
banquet  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  at  Bur- 
lington, la.,  July  20,  1886 186 

Knights  of  the  Footboard.  Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge  at  a 
banquet  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers  at 

Burlington,  la.,  July  19,  1886 188 

Uncertainty  of  the  Law.  Response  by  Hon.  John  B.  Green,  of 
New  York,  at  the  second  annual  banquet  of  the  Commercial 

Law  League  of  America,  at  Omaha,  July  21,  1896 191 

The  Ladies.  Response  by  Martin  F.  Saxe,  of  New  York,  at  the 
second  annual  banquet  of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of 

America  at  Omaha,  July  21,  1896 195 

The  United  States  of  America.  Response  by  John  L.  Webster, 
at  the  Omaha  banquet  of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of 

America,  July  21,  1896 198 

The  Lawyer  of  the  South ; What  He.  Has  Been,  Is  Now,  and  Ex- 
pects to  Be.  Response  by  Hill  Montague,  of  Virginia,  at 
the  first  annual  banquet  of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of 

America  alt  Detroit,  August  15,  1895 205 

The  Ladies.  Response  by  Hon.  Ernest  T.  Florance,  of  New 
Orleans,  at  the  first  annual  banquet  of  the  Commercial  Law 
League  of  America  at  Detroit,  August  15,  1895. 207 


“OUR  COUNTRY.” 

Response  by  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendrick'?,  at  a banquet  oi  the  Iroquois  Club  at 
Chicago,  March  15,  1882. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen: 

You  will,  no  doubt,  regard  it  as  appropriate  in  re- 
sponding to  this  toast,  to  refer  to  some  of  the  circumstances 
that  especially  contribute  to  our  country’s  greatness  and 
power.  Some  of  the  important  influences  and  agencies 
must,  however,  be  omitted.  I cannot  so  much  as  make 
mention  of  all.  The  railroads,  the  telegraphs  and  the  tele- 
phones have  been  heretofore  sufficiently  discussed. 

But,  with  your  permission  and  approval,  we  will  take 
a journey  upon  some  of  the  great  lines  of  railroads.  Shall 
it  be  from  Boston  to  San  Francisco?  Seven  days  and 
seven  nights  will  pass,  as  the  train  flies  onward,  before  we 
hear  the  ceaseless  murmur  of  the  Pacific.  Such  a journey, 
from  Paris  eastward,  would  carry  us  beyond  Europe  and 
far  into  Asia.  The  line  of  our  travel  marks  and  measures 
the  great  extent  of  our  country.  The  same  flag  remains 
over  us. 

We  start  from  the  landing  place  of  the  Mayflower,  and 
will  stop  alongside  the  great  steamers  that  are  in  our  trade 
with  China  and  Japan.  All  the  way  our  hearts  are  cheered 
with  the  music  of  active  industry,  and  towns  and  cities  are 
our  mile-posts.  As  we  pass  New  York  and  Chicago,  we 
take  off  our  hats  in  recognition  of  the  indomitable  genius 
of  daring  and  successful  enterprise.  All  the  way,  and  in 
every  employment  and  pursuit,  health,  energy  and  courage 
compel  success,  and  the  numerous  trains  we  meet,  carrying 
our  products  to  their  markets,  answer  the  inquiry  why  the 
balance  of  trade  with  foreign  countries  has  been  so  largely 
in  our  favor.  On  the  summit  of  the  mountains,  as  we  gaze 
upon  the  distant  plains,  toward  the  Atlantic  and  toward 


8 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


the  Pacific,  the  spirit  of  our  country  is  upon  us  and  as- 
sures us  that  in  every  element  of  wealth  and  greatness 
we  are  to  lead  all  the  nations,  if  we  but  dwell  together  in 
peace  and  harmony. 

San  Francisco  is  the  New  York  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 
It  commands  the  commerce  of  the  East  and  the  trade  of 
the  Pacific  Slope  in  its  gold  and  silver  products  of  the 
soil.  We  will  go  out  upon  the  bay  and  as  far  as  the  Gold- 
en Gates.  This  is  the  great  entrance  to  our  country  from 
the  Pacific.  It  can  be  securely  defended,  and  the  defenses 
already  completed  are  probably  impregnable. 

We  cannot  remain  longer  at  San  Francisco.  Of  course 
we  will  return  by  the  Southern  route.  The  next  time  it 
will  be.  by  the  Northern  route.  The  train  cannot  wait  for 
us  to  visit  the  vineyards  and  the  orange  groves  of  Los 
Angeles,  or  San  Gabriel,  or  San  Bernardino.  Fruit  of  the 
richest  quality,  and  wines  of  choice  flavor  and  of  great 
value  are  here  produced.  I cannot  conceive  of  anything, 
not  even  the  magnolia,  more  beautiful  than  the  orange 
tree,  when  the  ripe  fruit  and  the  blossoms  mingle  with 
foliage  of  the  deepest  green.  It  was  a beautiful  concep- 
tion of  the  Spaniard  to  call  this  the  land  of  the  angels. 
We  will  not  stop  at  that  ancient  seat  of  our  military 
power,  Fort  Yuma,  at  the  crossing  of  the  Colorado,  except 
to  say  good-bye  to  California. 

Passing  the  long  line  of  rail  through  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico  and  the  giant  State  of  Texas,  we  reach  New  Or- 
leans. It  was  here  the  illustrious  patriot  and  statesman, 
the  anniversary  of  whose  natal  day  we  celebrate,  achieved 
great  renown  as  a warrior.  It  is  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
years  since  the  day  of  his  birth  and  forty-five  since  his  re- 
tirement from  public  life.  Yet  his  name  and  fame  are 
cherished  with  the  same  devotion  by  the  people  as  when 
in  their  midst  he  defended  their  safety  on  the  battlefield 
and  protected  their  rights  in  the  executive  mansion. 

We  stand  beside  the  Father  of  Waters.  He  rages,  and 


9 


“our  country.” 

his  anger  is  frightful.  His  punishment  of  the  people  on 
the  border  is  cruel  and  remorseless.  He  has  broken  away 
from  the  restraints  that  held  him  in  the  channel.  He  has 
driven  the  people  from  their  farms  and  seized  their  lands. 
What  agencies  shall  be  invoked  to  control  the  turbulent 
waters?  When  it  was  once  my  duty  to  speak  and  vote  on 
this  question,  I had  difficulty  in  satisfying  myself  of  the 
authority  of  Congress  to  vote  money  to  maintain  the  le- 
vees. It  seemed  it  was  not  so  much  in  aid  of  commerce 
as  to  defend  and  protect  agriculture.  But  I came  to  the 
conclusion  that  as  Jefferson  had  foufid  authority  in  the 
Constitution  for  the  purchase  of  that  country,  I might 
feel  authorized  to  vote  for  its  preservation.  The  great 
interests  of  the  country  require  it. 

Shall  we  return  by  Washington?  Perhaps  it  would  be 
of  interest  to  witness  something  of  the  strife  between  the 
belligerent  Republican  party.  My  sympathies  were  with 
the  stalwarts.  I thought  them  the  more  sincere  and 
honest;  and  also  they  seemed  to  be  the  “under  dog  in  the 
fight.” 

Our  journey  is  now  ended.  What  have  we  observed? 
This  we  can  say : Our  country  is  great  and  strong  be- 

cause it  has  a great  and  strong  population.  We  have 
journeyed  among  the  people  and  observed  their  charac- 
teristics. Engaged  in  useful  and  honorable  industry,  they 
fill  the  valleys ; seeking  homes,  subsistence  and  wealth, 
they  climb  the  mountain  sides. 

The  great  qualities  that  characterize  our  people  are  the 
result,  as  I suppose,  of  the  commingling  of  the  blood  of 
the  strongest  nations.  They  are  irresistible  in  the  pur- 
suits of  peace,  invincible  in  war.  Barbarism  in  Russia 
and  cruelty  in  England  will  stimulate  the  spirit  of  immi- 
gration to  these  States  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  and  our 
population  will  be  increased  at  a greater  ratio  than  ever. 

We  have  also  observed  in  our  journey  the  great 
variety  of  climate,  of  soil,  and  of  production ; each  section 


IO 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


is  developing  those  industries  to  which  it  is  best  adapted. 
You  gentlemen  who  have  never  before  traveled  over  the 
great  Northwest  have  seen  with  wonder  and  admiration 
the  extent  and  value  of  our  agricultural  productions, 
while  we  of  the  North  have  rejoiced  at  the  increased  cot- 
ton growth  of  the  South. 

We  all  rejoice  in  the  fact  that  the  sections  maintain  an 
honorable  and  friendly  rivalry  for  the  greatest  success  in 
their  respective  productions.  Cotton  in  the  South  and 
corn  in  the  North  each  claims  to  be  king.  They  are  so 
great,  so  powerful,  and  contribute  so  largely  to  hold  the 
balance  of  trade  in  our  favor  with  other  countries,  that 
each  may  well  claim  a scepter.  In  excellence  of  quality 
and  the  quantity  produced,  each  has  almost  the  exclusive 
product  of  this  country,  and  each  may  securely  rely  upon 
the  wants  of  mankind  to  supply  a market.  That  product 
which  always  commands  a market  is  king. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  while  with  gratified 
pride  we  are  considering  the  vast  extent  of  our  country 
and  the  great  variety  and  enormous  value  of  its  produc- 
tions, we  are  admonished  that  the  purest  of  our  patriots 
and  the  wisest  of  our  statesmen  have  expressed  their 
fears  and  profound  anxiety  lest  out  of  these  shall  come 
jealousies  and  antagonisms.  No  danger  need  be  appre- 
hended from  that  source  if  we  but  stand  by  our  system 
and  form  of  government.  It  was  the  child  of  patriotism 
and  wisdom,  and  experience  has  proven  it  well  suited  to 
our  condition.  It  is  madness  to  hope  that  a consolidated 
and  single  authority  can  maintain  peaceful  government 
over  a country  so  extended,  and  with  productions  and  in- 
terests so  varied.  If  we  but  maintain  the  constitutional 
authority  of  the  United  States,  and  preserve  to  each  State 
the  right  to  regulate  whatever  belongs  to  itself  alone,  we 
fear  no  troubles  arising  from  sectional  jealousies,  how- 
ever much  our  territory  may  be  extended  or  our  produc- 
tions increased. 


“ANDREW  JACKSON.”  II 

“ANDREW  JACKSON.” 

Response  by  Hon.  William  F.  Vilas,  of  Wisconsin,  at  a banquet  of  the  Iro- 
quois Club,  at  Chicago,  March  15,  1883. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Iroquois  Club : 

The  selection  of  this  anniversary  for  your  first  festival 
is  a signal  mark  of  the  patriotism,  wisdom  and  political 
courage  which  animate  your  organization,  and  a prophecy 
of  its  usefulness. 

Andrew  Jackson!  What  a flood  of  glorious  history 
rises  on  the  name!  A generation  ago  and  more,  the  old 
Democratic  hero  passed  behind  the  curtain  of  death,  but 
only  in  the  flesh  to  die ! The  mortal  change  was  his 
apotheosis  to  the  celestial  company  of  the  gods  of  our 
political  religion. 

Well  worthy  of  his  immortality  was  that  heroic  life. 
Riven  by  passion  and  scarred  by  the  strokes  of  strife,  yet 
it  stands  a colossal  figure  among  the  heroes  and  states- 
men of  mankind,  pre-eminent  for  single-hearted  honesty 
of  purpose  and  exalted  bravery  to  do  and  bear. 

The  ivy  of  aflfection  and  the  laurel  of  renown,  rich  by 
the  growth  of  years,  now  hide  beneath  their  beauty  the 
scars  and  seams  of  human  weakness  in  that  splendid 
tower  of  God’s  architecture  in  man.  The  features  of  its 
majesty  and  strength  alone  are  left  open  to  view.  Turn 
we  our  gaze  on  them,  behold  the  beacon  which  blazes 
from  its  lofty  head,  and  fitly  celebrate  his  day  by  invoking 
the  inspiration  of  that  character  to  rule  again  our  political 
world. 

This  country  ever  loved,  and,  as  it  shall  be  ever  free, 
ever  must  love,  in  its  true  ideal,  the  Jackson  Democracy. 
False  leadership  and  the  turbulence  of  war  distracted  its 
counsels,  obscured  its  distinctiveness  and  scattered  its  fol- 
lowers among  various  parties.  The  painful  political  scenes 
of  our  day  cry  aloud  for  their  patriotic  reunion  and  the 
restoration  of  its  power. 

It  was  not  great  intellect  which  made  Andrew  Jackson 


12 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


a great  leader  of  men.  It  was  his  towering  character. 
He  had  great  intellect,  and  for  war  genius.  But  high 
above  all,  as  mountain  peaks  ascend  above  the  lower  lying 
hills,  rose  the  lofty  eminences  of  his  stupendous  character. 
Its  paramount  features  were  indomitable  will  and  daring, 
but  intelligent  courage.  No  page  of  history  tells  of  one 
who,  before  him,  survived  seventy-eight  years  and  so 
continually  performed  such  and  so  many  actions  of  des- 
perate audacity.  From  early  boyhood  to  whitened  age, 
he  was  beset  by  perils  and  involved  in  strife,  sometimes 
crippled  by  wounds  and  often  broken  by  disease.  Others 
would  have  yielded,  or,  not  yielding,  would  have  died. 
But  not  he ! Through  every  year  of  life,  in  every  danger, 
in  difficulties  unmeasured,  the  flame  of  that  matchless 
soul  burned  undimmed;  his  courage  never  flinched,  nor 
his  iron  will  surrendered. 

His  personal  hardihood  was  not  more  remarkable  than 
'his  moral  courage.  The  two  went  ihiamd  in  hand.  He  as 
boldly  met  the  judgment  of  men  and  angels  as  the  efforts 
of  an  enemy.  For  he  was  founded  on  absolute  honesty  of 
thought.  Not  always  right,  he  always  thought  he  was 
right.  His  acts  were  sometimes  wrong;  his  purposes  in 
them  to  his  mind  never.  It  guided  him  in  quarrels  with 
his  enemies,  it  ennobled  his  intercourse  with  friends.  It 
governed  his  individual  transactions,  and  rose  to  exalta- 
tion when  he  dealt  for  his  country  and  fellow  men.  There 
his  example  voiced  the  teaching:  The  man  is  a felon  who 
in  politics  cheats  the  people,  and  he  a traitor  who  betrays 
public  trust. 

And  this  our  day  and  generation,  which  has  seen  a 
secret  plotter,  because  his  corrupt  arts  turned  awry  a 
State’s  election  on  which  a Presidential  contest  pivoted, 
wined  and  feasted  as  a political  hero — which  witnesses 
even  now  at  the  capital  of  its  greatest  State  the  consum- 
mation of  a shameful  compact  for  the  barter  of  public 
offices  of  trust — while  yet  we  have  not  ceased  to  shudder 


“ANDREW  JACKSON.”  13 

from  the  horror  of  a President’s  assassination  in  time  of 
peace,  because  of  the  passionate  intrigues  of  faction — may 
well  return  an  anxious  eye  to  the  lesson  of  honest  convic- 
tion and  integrity  of  purpose  taught  by  Jackson’s  open 
war.  Better  far  to  the  country  were  all  his  upright  errors 
than  a single  drop  of  the  subtle  poison  of  the  blood  in- 
noculated  by  the  chicane  and  fraud  which  have  been  too 
long  the  instruments  of  power  in  the  Republic. 

These  were  the  qualities  which  made  the  leadership  of 
Jackson  great  and  successful.  These  magnetized  and 
unified  the  Jackson  Democracy  of  fifty  years  ago.  These 
were  their  principles  of  action — first,  to  see  the  right, 
blazing  with  the  authority  of  the  burning  bush  to  Moses, 
then  fight  for  it,  recking  no  peril. 

Above  all,  and  first  of  all,  the  Jackson  Democrat,  as 
Jackson  did,  loves  his  country  with  a love  which  knows  no 
higher  duty  but  to  God.  He  loves  this  complex  frame  of 
government  which,  when  young,  kings  derided,  and  the 
world  cannot  comprehend  this  mystic  child  of  Liberty, 
heaven-conceived,  of  one  in  many  and  many  in  one;  this 
fast-bound  Union  of  Independent  States,  this  system  of 
the  stars,  resting  on  the  equipoise  of  contending  forces, 
safe  as  law  and  free  as  space.  He  loves  it  without  reason- 
ing and  with  reason ; not  alone  because  it  shelters  his  wife 
and  babes  and  household  gods,  protects  his  labor  and 
opens  unlimited  possibilities  to  his  manhood;  but  because 
it  satisfies  the  natural  longings  of  his  soul,  because  our 
fathers  won  it  as  the  price  of  blood,  because  it  is  the  ark 
of  their  covenant  and  holds  in  security  the  fruit  and  hope 
of  Liberty.  He  loves  it  because  it  stands  up  in  the  way 
of  the  tyrants  of  the  earth ; inviting  the  oppressed  to 
safety  and  teaching  the  example  of  freedom  to  men.  The 
springing  manhood  of  his  youth  rejoices  in  this  idol,  su- 
perior to  the  love  of  woman,  and  the  experience  of  his 
age  sinks  the  roots  of  his  affection  in  wisdom  and  phi- 
lanthropy. 


*4 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


Such  was  Jackson’s  patriotism,  intense  as  his  charac- 
ter, passionate  and  true.  It  was  a nursling  of  the  bloody 
Tarleton’s  Waxhaw  massacre,  printed  on  his  boyish  head 
by  a British  butcher’s  sword-stroke,  nourished  in  captiv- 
ity while  yet  but  fourteen.  It  sank  deep  in  his  heart  as  he 
helped  to  raise  the  frame  of  a State  in  the  wilds  of  primi- 
tive Tennessee,  and  fought  the  savage  in  the  Southern 
glades  and  forests.  And  how  full  of  glory  to  his  country 
were  its  ripened  fruits!  Recall  the  scenes  of  the  second 
war  with  Great  Britain.  With  all  our  victories  on  lake 
and  sea,  disaster  and  humiliation  had  befallen  us  by  land. 
Our  soil  had  been  invaded,  our  capital  captured  and  rav- 
aged by  fire.  Our  wide  seacoast,  so  promising  to  com- 
merce, seemed  helpless  of  defense.  And  when  England 
gathered  at  Jamaica  her  vast  armada,  boastfully  threat- 
ening to  seize  our  great  river,  rob  us  of  our  new-bought 
territory,  and  push  her  ships  and  armies  northward,  till 
her  cordon  of  empire  bound  us  from  Canada  to  the  Gulf, 
who  compared  her  mighty  preparations  with  our  feeble 
force,  without  some  fear?  Who  but  Andrew  Jackson? 
With  the  daring  patriotism  of  Leonidas,  intelligently 
skillful  as  it  was  desperate,  he  flung,  by  night,  his  little 
band  upon  the  enemy,  instantly  he  had  landed  upon  the 
Louisiana  shore;  then,  gaining  delay  to  raise  a hasty 
breastwork,  with  bloody  slaughter  of  her  trained  and 
veteran  army,  he  gave  to  England,  more  by  valor  than 
by  arms,  her  most  ignominous  defeat,  and,  changing  our 
humiliation  to  joy,  finished  the  war  in  glory  by  the  splen- 
did victory  of  New  Orleans. 

Not  alone  by  a savage  or  a foreign  enemy  was  that 
love  of  country  tried.  When  his  hair  was  white  with  the 
toils  and  wars  of  more  than  three-score  years,  when  care, 
disease  and  grief  had  long  pressed  hard  upon  his  soul, 
from  the  very  people  he  had  fought  and  labored  for,  from 
his  own  Southern  clime  a deadly  blow  was  leveled  at  his 
country.  The  treason  of  secession  raised  its  horrid  front 


“ANDREW  JACKSON.”  1 5 

to  defy  the  Constitution  and  tear  our  Union  asunder. 
Though  many  trembled,  the  old  President  was  unshaken. 
With  the  fierce  alacrity  of  youth,  he  met  it  before  it  came 
forward ; and  raising  that  fitting  cry  of  a Republic’s  Chief 
Magistrate,  “By  the  God  of  Heaven  I will  uphold  the 
laws,”  he  struck  the  treason  down ! 

He  knew  but  one  dealing  with  his  country’s  enemy, 
whether  he  came  in  ships  across  the  sea,  or  traitorously 
at  home  struck  at  the  sacred  bond  of  Union ; to  fight  him 
on  the  instant  and  to  fight  him  to  the  death. 

And  this  is  the  devotion  everywhere  of  the  true  Jack- 
son  Democrat.  This  led  him  to  the  fore-ranks  of  war, 
when  a second  time  secession  aimed  its  mortal  stroke 
upon  our  nation’s  bond,  when,  alas!  no  Jackson  stood  in 
front.  Forgotten  all  divisions,  loosed  all  other  ties,  this 
devotion  bound  the  Jackson  Democrat  to  all  true  com- 
rades in  arms.  Let  the  warriors  who  fought  with  tongues 
and  offices,  at  home,  raise  their  chatter  in  vain ! It  was 
not  they ! This  fellowship  of  the  brave  in  patriotic  duty 
then  saved  the  Republic  to  men,  and  shall  be  its  safe 
foundation  forever ! 

Fellow  Democrats ! These  were  the  ruling  guides  of 
the  illustrious  man  whose  name  and  inspiration  you  in- 
voke to-night.  But  volumes  only  can  tell  the  many  deeds 
and  services  by  which  he  exemplified  them  in  action.  I 
may  not  pause  to  touch  them  with  even  bare  allusion. 

Yet  I would  bid  you  mark  his  dealings  with  another 
peculiar  danger  to  popular  institutions — the  clutch  of  a 
great  corporation  on  the  Government.  Like  other  com- 
binations of  capital,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  had  its 
field  and  day  of  usefulness.  In  its  useful  work  it  was  en- 
titled to  credit  and  protection,  and  both  it  received.  But 
with  strength  it  grew  ambitious,  and  strained  for  unjust 
power.  It  stretched  out  its  arm  and  took  the  Congress 
in  its  grasp.  It  defied  the  Executive,  and  a weaker  one 
would  have  bent  to  its  will.  But  Jackson  smote  it,  like 


i6 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


Hercules  the  dragon,  and  it  fell ! And  with  it  fell  to  us 
the  warning:  Keep  corporations  in  their  places.  Hands 
off  the  government  of  the  free ! 

And  still  more  pertinent  to  the  day  is  it  to  recall  his 
entrance  on  the  field  of  national  politics.  Then,,  as  now,  a 
vicious  party  system  bound  the  people  and  fettered  their 
free  choice.  Spurning  the  power  of  the  caucus,  he  burst 
its  bands  of  false  cohesion  as  a mass  of  cobweb,  and  won 
the  people  overwhelmingly  by  direct,  open  war.  Let  us 
emulate  the  pregnant  example.  Down  with  intrigues  for 
office ! Democracy  wants  no  hireling  soldiery  who  war 
for  sack  and  spoil ! Up  with  the  clear-cut  principles 
which  mark  the  manhood  of  a free  man,  and  recruit  our 
hosts  from  them  who  will  fight  for  the  right  because  it  is 
right — for  love  of  country  and  fellow-men. 

There  is  work  enough  to  do,  were  we  all  herculean. 
The  Augean  stables  must  be  cleaned  of  long-accumulated 
corruption ; our  public  trusts  set  utterly  above  the  reach 
of  political  beasts  of  prey;  our  trade  made  free  of  taxes 
which  rob  the  general  public;  our  commerce  to  ride  the 
waves  of  every  sea,  beneath  our  country’s  flag. 

Fill  up,  then,  gentlemen,  a brimming  cup  to  the  glori- 
ous memory  of  Andrew  Jackson.  With  joy  all  good  men 
may  drink  it  through  the  reunited  nation.  In  Southern 
homes  his  name  must  have  peculiar  honor.  For  he  was 
theirs  from  whom  we  claim  this  heritage  of  glory!  And 
so  was  the  majestic  Washington!  So  was  Jefferson! 
And  a long  line  of  sacred  memory!  Well  may  they  jump 
the  sins  of  a later  generation  to  sink  in  oblivion,  and  seize 
again  on  the  traditions  of  the  fathers  as  theirs  and  ours 
together.  Drink  to  the  glories  of  the  past — the  hopes  of 
coming  time ! And,  while  this  government  bears  the  ark 
of  liberty  down  the  ages,  green  grow  the  laurels  on  the 
hero’s  grave  and  sweetly  rest  his  sleep ! Abide  with  us 
forever  the  alert  and  fearless  courage,  the  open  simple 
honesty,  and  pure,  patriotic  love  of  Old  Hickory! 


“business  education.”  17 


“BUSINESS  EDUCATION  AND  EDUCATION 
AMONG  BUSINESS  MEN ; a more  thorough  gen- 
eral Education  is  essential  to  the  American  Mer- 
chant, IN  ORDER  THAT  HE  MAY  SUCCESSFULLY  PROSE- 
CUTE THE  GREAT  AFFAIRS  OF  COMMERCE,  AND  HAPPILY 
ENJOY  THE  FRUITS  OF  HIS  LABOR.” 

Response  by  Col.  W.  F.  Vilas,  of  Madison,  Wis.,  at  a banquet  of  the  Milwau- 
kee Merchants’  Association,  June  5,  1884. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen : 

The  sentiment  rather  invites  an  essay  than  a speech ; 
a studious,  passionless,  and  extensive  excursion  upon  a 
wide  domain  of  history  and  thought.  It  is  a serious 
theme,  full  of  interest  and  value,  and  that  you  set  it  for- 
ward for  prominent  contemplation  in  this  joyous  hour  of 
festivity,  testifies  the  honorable  spirit  which  rules  the 
merchants  of  Wisconsin's  metropolis.  The  craving  for 
broader  education  is  the  proof  of  enlightenment  already 
gained  in  great  degree;  it  bespeaks  a mind  already  edu- 
cated to  comprehension  of  our  nature,  and  conscious  of 
its  capability  for  exalted  power  and  exquisite  pleasure; 
it  is  the  noble  appetite  of  the  soul.  And  the  reflection  is 
pleasing  to  us,  members  of  the  brotherhood  of  Liberty, 
that  everywhere  in  our  happy  land,  from  every  calling, 
from  all  the  ranks  of  business  and  of  labor,  mercantile, 
professional  and  mechanical,  that  yearning  cry  is  heard, 
marking  steady  diffusion  of  intelligence,  enlarged  appre- 
ciation of  the  power  of  knowledge,  increased  numbers  set 
free  in  intellect  by  their  free  equality  in  law.  The  lamp 
of  science  now  bestows  its  rays  on  every  scene  of  human 
effort,  and  the  quickening  power  of  its  light  stimulates 
inquiry  and  growth  in  every  field  where  industry  adds 
some  product  for  the  comfort  or  joy  of  men.  The  teem- 
ing mouth  of  the  mine  is  vocal  with  the  sounds  of  inven- 
tive science ; the  forest,  in  rapid  fall,  reverberates  its 
mighty  stroke ; the  farmside  mingles  the  melody  of  civil- 


i8 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


ization’s  machinery  with  nature’s  voices;  and,  in  various 
form,  the  manufactory  hums  the  notes  of  enlightened 
progress.  New  methods  constantly  grant  greater  forces 
to  man ; multiply  the  old  and  develop  new  products  to 
enter  the  marts  of  trade. 

The  merchant  is  the  agent  and  factor  of  all  the  ranks 
of  industry  and  life ; gathering  from  every  class,  dis- 
tributing to  every  class.  He  must  be  quick  to  know  the 
wants  of  all,  the  availability  of  the  products  of  all.  At  his 
highest  value,  he  must  advantageously  partake  the 
knowledge  of  all.  His  intelligence  must  comprehend  not 
only  the  necessities,  but  the  luxuries,  the  elegant  tastes, 
the  most  delicate  gratifications.  He  teaches  the  producer 
what  are  the  choicest  demands  of  society,  the  consumer 
what  the  richest  fruits  of  labor.  Nor  will  the  jealous  ex- 
action of  an  ambitious  people  suffer  the  American  mer- 
chant to  limit  his  trials  to  his  own  country.  He  has  ever 
been,  and  must  not  cease  to  be,  the  adventurous  traveler 
of  the  globe.  And  now  a thousand  avenues  are  opened, 
and  new  journeyings  inviting  him,  where,  but  shortly 
since,  comparatively  few  challenged  his  attempts.  The 
railroad  and  steamship  have  made  all  the  produce  of 
earth  his  commodities,  every  clime  his  garden,  every  peo- 
ple his  customers.  His  ear  must  catch  the  daily  notes  of 
traffic,  thrumming  the  electric  wire  from  every  leading 
mart  of  trade  around  the  great  world.  His  factors  must 
be  in  Europe,  in  China,  in  the  Indies,  in  South  America, 
in  the  northern  seas,  and  the  far-off  islands  of  the  great 
oceans,  and  his  competition  outstrip  rivals  in  every  land 
and  clime.  Wherever  on  earth  the  want  of  his  country’s 
productions  is  to  be  discovered  or  excited,  there  his  pene- 
trating activity  must  find  a market.  Alert,  enterprising, 
indefatigable,  bold,  handling  every  product  of  scientific 
industry  or  popular  need,  rapping  at  the  gate  of  every  av- 
enue of  commerce — such  the  character  and  mission  which 
a great  people  demand  of  the  American  merchant.  Well 


19 


‘'business  education/' 

may  you  say  the  most  extensive  education  is  essential  to 
his  successful  prosecution  of  the  great  affairs  of  com- 
merce committed  to  his  charge. 

For,  not  alone  must  the  merchant  intimately  know  the 
methods  and  the  articles  of  production,  the  channels  of 
intercourse,  the  varied  wants  and  the  changing  markets 
of  the  people  of  the  earth ; he  must  know  the  science  of 
applied  statistics,  the  laws  of  trade  and  political  economy 
— whence  comes  the  wisdom  to  forecast  events,  and,  still 
more,  he  must  be  a lawyer — in  several  languages — to  read 
the  chart  of  artificial  reefs  and  obstructed  channels  by 
which  the  statutes  of  different  nations,  according  to  the 
respective  degrees  of  their  ignorance,  prejudice  and  self- 
wounding  selfishness,  imperil  the  rich  argosies  of  com- 
merce. 

But  no  further  here.  Politics  is  barred. 

True  it  is,  minute  and  skillful  division  of  these  vast 
labors  apportions  but  a minor  share  to  the  individual. 
But  this  is  also  true  of  every  great  department  of  affairs, 
and  not  otherwise  could  great  achievements  follow.  It 
argues  no  less  intelligence  to  be  necessary  to  the  class ; it 
detracts  nothing  from  the  magnitude  and  credit  of  the 
common  enterprise.  The  highest  rank  in  any  calling  can 
be  reached  only  by  possession  of  the  gifts  and  acquire- 
ments requisite  to  perform  its  functions ; and  the  noblest 
aim  and  effort  lead  honorably  to  the  foremost  place. 
Whosoever  is  unwilling  to  undergo  the  conditions  of  a 
higher,  must  take,  in  contentment,  his  lesser  place ; who 
looks  to  be  a leader  among  American  merchants,  must 
be  equipped  with  the  knowledge  of  the  world.  A broader 
and  a truer  education  is  also  needful  in  another  point  of 
view — to  enforce  the  policy  of  honesty,  and  guard  against 
the  wild  irruptions  of  folly.  It  must  be  confessed  the 
time  has  not  yet  passed  when  Darien  colonization 
schemes,  South  Sea  bubbles,  and  Mississippi  companies, 
in  other  guises  and  by  other  names,  may  sink  the  earnings 


20 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


of  a generation.  Business  men  still  sometimes  mistake 
reckless  speculation  for  business,  and  seek  the  road  to 
wealth  “across  lots.”  Is  it  not  true,  for  some  time  past, 
much  of  our  legitimate  traffic  has  been  a mere  body-ser- 
vant to  gambling?  When  the  lexicon  of  business  is 
chiefly  studied  for  definition  of  “puts,”  “calls,”  “spreads,” 
and  “straddles ;”  when  the  neophyte  is  taught  to  buy  v/hat 
is  not  sold,  and  to  sell  what  he  does  not  own,  “business 
education”  is  a direct  preparation  for  the  faro-table  or 
sweat-cloth.  For  years  Wall  street  and  Monaco  might 
have  been  indifferently  visited  for  “business,”  with  equal 
morality,  and  the  former  has  been  infinitely  more  pernici- 
ous in  consequences.  It  has  spread  the  fatal  itch  among 
the  people,  which,  long  hid  in  the  circulation,  is  now 
broken  out  in  recent  mortgages,  pock-spotting  the  whole 
country.  That  is,  I understand,  the  healthy  state  of  erup- 
tive disease ; and  it  may  be  hoped  our  period  of  convales- 
cence has  begun.  It  demands  educated  intelligence  to 
distinguish  and  guide  the  daring  enterprises  of  honest 
business  which  bring  legitimate  gains,  though  often 
large,  especially,  to  commend  to  the  man  of  moderate 
affairs  the  wisdom  of  patience,  the  security  and  certainty 
of  that  steady  growth  which  builds  the  oak  by  yearly 
rings  of  gain ; above  all,  to  shun  the  seductive  lures  of 
dishonest  speculation,  which,  sooner  or  later,  surely 
wrecks  its  inebriated  victim. 

It  is  a special  pleasure  to  touch  another  feature  of 
your  toast.  Happy,  indeed,  is  that  enjoyment  of  the  fruits 
of  labor  which  derives  its  zest  from  the  accomplishments 
of  the  mind.  This  bodily  frame,  in  youth  exuberant  with 
expanding  powers,  advances  in  growth  but  to  manhood’s 
middle  age ; then  begins  its  slow,  its  swift  descent  to  mor- 
tal dissolution,  tortured  with  a thousand  ills,  monitory  of 
the  end.  Not  so  the  mind.  Rightly  guided,  its  faculties 
develop,  its  tastes  improve,  its  wisdom  strengthens,  and 
all  its  pleasures  widen,  from  when  the  body  begins  to 


“business  EDUCATION."  21 

fail ; and,  not  rarely,  the  soul  shows  its  climax  of  nobility 
as  it  shakes  off  the  mortal  dust.  But  there  is  an  inexor- 
able condition.  Unremitting  and  generous  cultivation 
alone  bestows  these  treasures.  Wealth  of  intellect,  like 
the  honest  fortune  of  industry,  is  the  fruit  of  patient  ac- 
cumulation, the  slow  product  of  wisdom  and  philosophy. 
The  appetites  of  youth  pall  in  age ; the  more  bitterly,  the 
greater  the  youthful  indulgence.  Woe  betide  that  man 
whose  only  resource  for  joy  has  been  their  gratification, 
when  the  ills  of  age  beset  him ! Hardly  less  pitiable  is  he 
whom  a sordid  greed  enslaves.  He  stands  like  some  soli- 
tary trunk,  when  the  fire  has  swept  the  forest;  every  leaf 
and  flower  turned  to  blackness,  where  nature  offered  a 
scene  of  beauty.  It  is  the  peculiar  peril  of  the  man  of 
business,  who  must  needs  employ  his  faculties  for  gain. 
Well  shall  it  be  for  him  if  he  wisely  applies  in  time  the 
counter-check  of  polite  studies.  Happily  falls  the  even- 
tide of  life  on  that  man,  who,  with  a garnered  competence, 
has  secured  his  quiet  seat  where  the  sun-rays  of  philoso- 
phy and  literature  shall  soften,  with  delicious  colors,  the 
twilight  of  his  declining  day;  and  sweetly  shall  his  natur- 
al sleep  embrace  him  at  its  close.  There  is,  in  the  volumes 
of  recorded  lore,  a mine  of  interest  and  delight  for  the 
special  delectation  of  the  merchant-student. 

It  has  been,  perhaps  still  is,  an  affectation  of  the  so- 
called  nobility  across  the  sea,  to  contemn  the  man  of 
trade,  calling  all — in  scorn — shopkeepers ; and  even  ser- 
vile scholars — for  mere  learning  never  gave  independence 
— have  stalked  along  behind,  carrying  the  train  of  this 
pride.  You  may,  at  times,  chance  to  see  some  blood- 
cursed  heir  of  this  depravity  turn  up  an  aristocratic  nose 
— often  over  a hungry  mouth — at  bare  thought  of  such 
association.  It  is  a mushroom  of  ignorance.  Review  of 
the  history  and  deeds  of  his  calling  may  justly  fill  the 
merchant’s  heart  with  generous  pride. 

At  its  head  has  stood,  from  the  earliest  years  of  the 


22 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


race,  the  genius  of  inquiry  and  enterprise.  It  has  been 
the  forlorn  hope  and  the  vanguard  of  civilization.  In 
ancient  days,  when  priests  and  scholars  turned  for 
knowledge  their  feeble  gaze  to  the  stars,  in  credulous 
lunacy,  and  every  stranger  was  a frightful  barbarian  and 
a foe,  the  merchant’s  caravan  unfolded  a knowledge  of 
the  earth  and  of  the  arts  of  life.  In  later  times,  when  the 
deluge  of  barbarism  had  submerged  the  civilization  of 
the  ancients,  and  again  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth,  the  rays  of  returning  light  shone  from  the  cities 
which  the  Adriatic  merchant  built  and  endowed,  and 
thence,  also,  sprung  that  perfect  code  of  the  laws  of  busi- 
ness, to  which  all  civilization  pays  the  grateful  tribute  of 
obedience.  Afterwards,  when  tyrants,  big  and  small, 
ruled  and  robbed  the  land  of  Europe;  while  pirates  de- 
spoiled the  seas,  alike  unchecked  by  fear  of  justice  or  of 
a spiritless  and  subjugated  people,  it  was  the  merchants 
and  tradesmen  who  joined  together  that  puissant  league 
of  towns  which  bowed  princes  to  their  law,  strung  pirates 
to  their  gibbets,  and  taught  the  first  lessons  to  the  people 
of  their  rights  and  power.  It  was  little  Holland,  mighty 
in  her  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  trade,  from  whose  mer- 
cantile genius,  like  Minerva  from  the  head  of  Jove,  sprung 
Grotius,  to  write  that  law  which  rules  nations  as  its  sub- 
jects; it  was  trading  Holland  which  gave  secure  asylum 
to  the  oppressed  in  conscience,  and  ushered  from  its 
shores  the,  adventurous  pilgrims,  heralds  of  liberty  to  the 
new  world. 

It  has  been  the  merchant  who  broke  the  synonymy  of 
enemy  and  stranger,  who  discovered  the  brotherhood  of 
man,  and  pioneered  the  civilization  which  Christianity 
purified;  it  was  the  merchant  who  practiced  the  Baconian 
philosophy  before  Bacon  lived,  and  displayed,  by  his  ad- 
venturous inquiry,  the  beginning  of  many  sciences ; it  was 
the  merchant  whose  intelligent  courage  and  wisdom  first 
subdued  the  anarchy,  that  broke  the  tyranny  of  the  mid- 


23 


“our  hotel." 

die  ages,  and  gave  the  spirit  of  liberty  to  the  land,  and  all 
the  security  of  law  to  the  sea. 

And  as  we  stand  here  in  the  mere  youth-time  of  a new 
and  mighty  world,  may  we  not  strain  a prophetic  eye  to 
that  future  day  when  the  American  merchant — worthy  in- 
heritor of  the  glories  of  his  line — descending  to  his  ships 
from  either  shore  of  this  harmonious  continent,  shall 
cause  the  gigantic  arteries  of  an  earth-surrounding  traffic 
to  beat  from  the  American  heart  of  commerce,  concen- 
trating here  the  returning  wealth  of  all  nations. 


“OUR  HOTEL — John  Plankinton's  house,  the  famous 
Caravansary  of  the  Northwest;  grand  in  its  pro- 
portions AND  IN  ALL  ITS  APPOINTMENTS,  THEY  SIMPLY 
REFLECT  THE  HEAD  AND  HEART  OF  ITS  ORIGINATOR  AND 
PROPRIETOR ONE  OF  MILWAUKEE^  FOREMOST  CITI- 

ZENS." 

Response  by  James  G.  Jenkins,  at  a banquet  of  the  Milwaukee  Merchants’ 
Association,  June  5,  1884. 

Mr.  President: 

The  theme  assigned  me  is  double;  the  house  Plankin- 
ton,  and  the  man  Plankinton.  Ordinarily — like  a patent 
of  nobility — they  speak  for  themselves;  they  are  their 
own  best  advocates.  It  seems,  however,  fitting  to  the  time 
when  the  merchants  of  Milwaukee  hold  their  annual 
feast,  sacred  to  their  titular  deity  Ceres,  the  goddess  of 
corn  and  of  harvests,  and  appropriate  to  the  occasion 
when  they  dedicate  to  use  this  beautiful  banquet  hall, 
that  mention  should  be  made  of  the  house  that  is  the  pride 
of  the  city,  and  of  the  man  whose  public  spirit  has  made 
such  an  hostelry  an  accomplished  fact. 

The  practical  religion  of  a practical  age  declares  as  in- 
fallible truth  that  man’s  first  great  duty  is  to  his  stomach. 
Unless  that  organ  be  healthful  and  well  supplied,  the 
body  is  not  nourished,  the  brain  works  awry,  and  dis- 


-4 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


torted  fancies  usurp  the  throne  of  reason  and  of  common 
sense.  The  ill-conditioned  stomach  can  neither  rightly 
appreciate  the  present  life,  nor  justly  reason  on  the  life 
to  come.  In  vain  the  missionary  appeals  to  the  starving 
savage  to  comprehend  and  reconcile  the  great  fundament- 
al doctrines  of  predestination,  election,  fore-ordination 
and  free-will.  But  fill  that  empty  stomach  with  whole- 
some food,  and  the  brain  receives  invigorating  force,  suffi- 
cient, if  the  treatment  be  timely  prosecuted,  to  digest 
even  those  theological  brick-bats.  The  communist  is 
merely  a starving  stomach  crying  for  food,  the  protest  of 
nature’s  law  of  nourishment  against  man’s  law  of  starva- 
tion; forcible  the  protest,  because  the  demands  of  nature 
are  peremptory;  violent,  because  to  the  starving,  peace- 
able means  seem  unavailing.  A full  stomach  is,  politi- 
cally, conservative.  An  ill-fed  stomach  is  radical  in  pro- 
portion to  its  emptiness.  The  safety  of  the  state  lies  not 
in  written  constitutions,  nor  in  armies,  but  in  well-filled 
stomachs.  The  bullet  of  wheat  is  more  effective  than  the 
bullet  of  lead. 

“Let  me  have  men  about  me  that  are  fat;. 

Sleek-headed  men,  and  such  as  sleep  o’nights; 

Yond’  Cassius  has  a lean  and  hungry  look; 

He  thinks  too  much;  such  men  are  dangerous.” 

In  all  the  progress  of  the  race,  man’s  first  effort  has 
been  to  better  his  physical  condition.  The  race  has  striven 
— is  still  striving — for  better  homes,  for  better  clothing, 
for  better  food,  and,  last  but  not  the  least,  for  better  cook- 
ing. Not,  perhaps,  to  so  great  an  extent  as  formerly,  but 
still,  in  large  measure,  is  it  true  to-day  that  “Heaven 
sends  us  good  meat,  but  the  devil  sends  us  cooks.” 

In  spite  of  the  wonderful  advance  in  scientific  knowl- 
edge and  the  means  of  information,  but  little  progress, 
outside  of  the  commercial  centers,  has  been  made  in  the 
science  of  cooking.  Cooking  should  be  one  of  the  learned 
professions.  It  is  the  master  of  all.  It  gives  tone  to 
religious  thought.  It  makes  and  unmakes  presidents.  It 


25 


"our  hotel/' 

largely  influences  legislation  and  the  administration  of 
the  law.  It  affects  the  decision  of  the  judge  upon  the  law, 
and  the  finding  of  the  jury  upon  the  facts.  It  creates 
the  necessity  which  renders  tolerable  the  medical  profes- 
sion. But,  sad  to  say,  the  science  of  cooking  is  for  the 
most  part  in  the  keeping  of  the  ignorant  and  the  careless. 
The  coat  of  arms  of  the  average  cook  should  be  a weak 
concoction  of  coffee  couchant,  with  a fried  beefsteak 
rampant. 

The  cook  is  man’s  tyrant.  Before  this  despot  how 
powerless  are  we ! His  sway  is  all-pervading.  He  is  re- 
sponsible for  most  of  the  evils  of  life.  He  may  be  persua- 
sive also  to  the  attainment  of  great  happiness.  Mens  sana 
in  corpore  sano — a sound  mind  in  a sound  body — is  to  the 
rational  mind  the  indispensable  condition  of  complete 
manhood.  The  one  cannot  exist  without  the  other,  and 
both  are  dependent  in  a large  degree  upon  the  cook.  He 
controls  our  destinies,  our  bodies,  our  nerves,  our 
thoughts,  our  ambitions.  His  art  or  want  of  skill  builds 
up  or  destroys  the  body,  enriches  or  impoverishes  the 
blood,  strengthens  or  weakens  the  nerves,  affects  the  very 
fibre  of  the  brain,  the  very  quality  of  thought.  The  suc- 
cess or  failure  of  "enterprises  of  great  pith  and  moment” 
often  hinge  upon  the  quality  of  one’s  breakfast.  The  cook 
may  be  either  Vishnu,  the  preserver,  or  Siva,  the  de- 
stroyer. He  most  frequently  develops  as  the  latter  divin- 
ity. He  is  the  fruitful  parent  of  dyspepsia,  and  dyspepsia 
destroys  a good  statesman,  a good  merchant,  a good  law- 
yer, and  a good  citizen.  The  dyspeptic  is  always  a bear — 
in  more  senses  than  one — and  as  to  every  enterprise.  The 
well-fed  stomach  looks  grandly  and  hopefully  upon  life, 
its  possibilities  and  its  means  of  usefulness.  The  Eng- 
lish are  wise.  Their  appeals  for  charitable,  religious  and 
public  aid  are  made  at  the  close  of  a good  dinner.  The 
subtle  chord  of  sympathy  between  the  stomach  and  the 


26 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


pocket-book  can  only  be  tuned  to  sweet  music  by  the 
cook. 

This  tyrant  of  ours  is  unassailable — entrenched  in 
power.  His  government  is  an  absolute  despotism,  accom- 
panied by  heavy  taxation  without  much  representation. 
There  is  no  republican  form  of  government  in  the  kitchen. 
No  revolution  can  dethrone  him,  and  we  cannot  live  with- 
out our  tyrant.  Although  he  slay  us,  yet  must  we  trust 
in  him. 

“We  may  live  without  poetry,  music  and  art; 

We  may  live  without  conscience,  and  live  without  heart; 

We  may  live  without  friends ; we  may  live  without  books ; 

But  civilized  man  cannot  live  without  cooks.” 

Seeing,  then,  that  much  of  life  depends  upon  the  cook, 
that  the  stability  of  governments  and  the  destinies  of  men 
are  within  his  power,  ought  we  not,  as  lovers  of  our  couni 
try  and  of  our  fellows,  to  seek  the  application  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  good  government  first  where  it  is  most  needed — 
to  the  kitchen?  We  have  common  schools  all  over  the 
land  to  nourish  the  brain.  Let  us  have  cooking  schools 
to  nourish  the  body.  Let  the  rallying  cry  be,  “Shall  the 
coming  woman  cook?”  It  matters  little  whether  Arthur 
or  Blaine,  or  Tilden  or  Cleveland  be  president.  It  is  es- 
sential to  the  safety  of  the  republic  that  we  inaugurate 
true  civil-service  reform  in  the  kitchen.  Some  one  has 
said  that  “if  a man  were  permitted  to  make  all  the  ballads, 
he  need  not  care  who  should  make  the  laws  of  a nation.” 
Let  Plankinton  name  the  cooks,  and  I will  show  you  bet- 
ter ballads  and  better  laws. 

The  contrast  between  the  ancient  inn  and  the  modern 
hotel  presents  in  striking  manner  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion. 

Anciently,  stringent  laws  were  necessary  to  protect 
the  guest  from  the  landlord.  The  latter  was  usually  poor, 
of  rather  unsavory  reputation,  and  sometimes  a highway- 
man. Being  unable — like  the  modern  landlord — to  ab- 
sorb all  of  his  guests’  money  in  a legal  way,  he  resorted 


27 


“our  hotel." 

to  forcible  and  unlawful  measures  to  obtain  it.  The  inn 
of  the  olden  time  was  a necessity  to  furnish  a meagre 
livelihood  to  the  landlord.  The  hotel  of  a commercial 
metropolis  now  is  the  plaything  of  a millionaire.  Form- 
erly, traveling,  even  for  short  distances  from  home,  was 
confined  to  the  rich,  and  was  infrequent.  The  inn,  there- 
fore, was  adapted  only  to  the  needs  of  the  time.  It  was 
small  and  crude  in  all  its  appointments,  and  yet  it  must 
have  furnished  a deal  of  comfort;  for  a century  ago,  so 
great  a man  as  Samuel  Johnson  asserted,  that  “there  is 
nothing  which  has  yet  been  contrived  by  man  by  which 
so  much  happiness  is  produced  as  by  a good  tavern  or 
inn."  But  so  great  have  become  the  means  of  communi- 
cation in  modern  times,  and  so  confirmed  the  necessity 
and  habit  of  frequent  and  long  journeys,  that  the  inn  has, 
at  all  commercial  centers,  developed  into  a palace,  at- 
tended by  an  army  of  retainers,  quick  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  guest.  Royalty  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth 
was  not  lodged  or  fed  as  is  the  ordinary  American  sover- 
eign in  the  modern  inn.  A ducal  palace  in  all  its  glory 
could  not  compare  with  a metropolitan  hotel  of  to-day. 
It  is  magnificent  in  its  proportions,  royal  in  its  appoint- 
ments, epicurean  in  its  larder,  luxurious  in  all  its  sur- 
roundings. The  modern  inn  is  a sure  indication  of  the 
progress  of  the  race  in  material  wealth  and  physical  com- 
fort. 

And  now  to  come  back  to  my  text.  Of  all  modern 
hotels  there  are  doubtless  many  that  are  larger,  but  I 
think  none  can  surpass  in  quiet,  but  beautiful  and  rich  in- 
terior, in  attention  and  care  for  guests,  the  fullness,  rich- 
ness and  variety  of  its  larder,  in  the  whiteness  and  cleanli- 
ness of  its  linen,  and  the  solid  comfort  of  its  beds,  in  the 
excellency  of  its  cooking,  the  Plankinton  House  of  Mil- 
waukee. All  that  art  and  science  and  money  could  sup- 
ply, has  been  supplied,  and  with  no  niggard  hand,  to  ren- 
der this  an  abode  of  luxurious  ease.  Beautiful  marbles 


28 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


and  frescoes  delight  the  eye.  Here  sweet,  clean  beds  invite 
to  repose.  Here  every  comfort  is  at  your  bidding.  The 
“salted  seas,”  the  great  lakes  and  the  mountain  streams 
yield  their  rich  food.  The  forests  and  the  great  prairies  ren- 
der their  savory  game.  The  tropics  and  the  Pacific  slope 
bestow  delicious  fruits.  The  tables  groan  beneath  the  weight 
of  luxury  And  here  is  a cook  upon  whom  the  title  is  rightly 
bestowed.  He  is  an  artist,  not  a boor.  He  knows  better 
than  to  fry  a steak,  and  can  discern  the  difference  between 
coffee  and  dishwater.  And  there  is  a bar — ah,  gentlemen, 
I see  your  eyes  glisten  and  mouths  water  at  the  very  men- 
tion of  the  place — a bar  where  the  choicest  beverages,  the 
most  fragrant  Havanas,  are  at  command.  There  every  taste 
may  be  gratified.  There  is  champagne  for  the  man  of  high 
license,  Best’s  beer  for  the  man  of  low  license,  and  an  ex- 
cellent quality  of  Apollinaris  for  the  prohibitionist. 

In  brief,  whatever  of  luxury  unlimited  means  can  com- 
mand, with  respect  to  the  lodgment  and  care  of  guests,  can 
here  be  found.  With  John  Plankinton  as  general  in  com- 
mand, and  Charles  W.  White  as  brigadier,  the  guest  may 
always  be  assured  of  right  royal  welcome  and  right  royal 
care. 

Well  may  Milwaukee  be  proud  of  the  Plankinton — 
house  and  man.  Fitting  is  it  that  the  merchants  of  the 
city  should  dedicate  this  elegant  banquet  room.  Here  hold 
your  annual  feasts ; for  many  a day  shall  pass  before  Mil- 
waukee can  boast  a finer  room,  a more  elegant  hotel,  a 
more  sumptuous  table,  or  better  cooking  than  we  have  seen 
and  enjoyed  to-night. 

Of  the  man  Plankinton — to  whom  the  city  and  state 
are  indebted  for  this  noble  hostelry — it  is  needless  to  speak 
in  any  mere  words  of  praise.  To  say  of  him  that  his  name 
is  a synonym  of  honor,  of  large-hearted  liberality,  of  en- 
lightened public  spirit,  is  but  to  say  what  is  a proverb  with 
every  man,  woman  and  child  in  Milwaukee.  The  monu- 
ments of  his  enterprise  and  public  liberality  are  seen  and 


29 


“the  jury." 

known  of  all.  His  private  charities  are  known  only  to  the 
recipients.  Long  may  he  live  to  enjoy  the  well-deserved 
esteem  of  his  neighbors,  and  the  fruits  of  an  honest  and 
well-spent  life. 

I conclude,  Mr.  President,  by  asking  leave  to  propose 
the  health  of  John  Plankinton, 

The  sagacious  merchant, 

The  public-spirited  citizen, 

The  friend  of  the  poor, 

The  Christian  gentleman, 

The  man  who  “can  keep  a hotel." 


“ THE  JURY." 

Response  by  George  W.  Wakefield,  at  the  banquet  of  the  Iowa  State  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, at  Davenport,  Iowa,  July  38,  1896. 

The  jury  is  an  ancient  and  honorable  branch  of  the  court, 
a safeguard  to  personal  liberty,  fostered  and  preserved  by  a 
freedom-loving  people,  and  the  direct  legacy  of  the  common 
law  to  us.  It  is  essentially  democratic  in  its  origin  and 
nature  and  grew  out  of  the  customs  and  laws  of  a people 
who  in  the  savage  and  barbarous  state  acknowledged  no 
king.  Then  the  sovereign  communities  were  small,  the 
members  of  each  few,  and  the  whole  body  of  freemen  in 
each,  assembled  full  armed,  in  their  annual  court,  when 
officers  for  the  year  were  elected,  public  business  transacted 
and  the  more  grave  controversies  between  individuals  as 
well  as  offenses  against  the  community,  were  heard  and  de- 
termined by  the  voice  of  all.  This  simple  method  has 
grown  and  changed  with  the  increase  in  numbers,.  the  com- 
bination of  small  communities  into  great  states,  and  the 
advance  of  civilization  and  consequent  increasing  complex- 
ity of  controversies.  The  forming  of  a great  state  made  a 
representative  system  for  the  small  communities  necessary, 
not  only  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  government,  but  also  in 
the  determination  of  controversies.  The  Anglo-Saxon, 


30 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


carried  to  England  from  the  German  forests,  the  court  of  the 
hundred  and  the  wapentake,  where  all  the  people  attended. 
As  numbers  increased  it  was  found  inconvenient  to  require 
all  to  attend  the  Shire  courts,  and  provision  was  made  for 
a specified  number  from  each  hundred  as  “the  four  best 
men,”  to  attend  instead.  So  through  representation  by 
slow  steps  has  grown  the  jury  as  we  now  have  it.  In  its 
scope  and  purpose  the  jury  is  representative  of  the  people, 
and  when  untrammeled  its  influence  is  on  the  side  of  per- 
sonal right  and  popular  privilege  and  opposed  to  prerog- 
ative and  kingly  tyranny.  Monarchs  do  not  look  upon  it 
with  kindly  eyes.  While  the  infamous  Jeffreys  coerced  the 
jury  to  find  Alice  Lisle  guilty  of  high  treason,  another  jury, 
notwithstanding  the  influence  of  the  king,  acquitted  the 
seven  bishops  who  refused  to  aid  James  II.  to  overthrow 
the  Protestant  faith.  Though  the  jury  that  acquitted  Sir 
Nicholas  Throgmorton  in  disregard  of  the  wishes  of  the 
judges  were  assessed  to  pay  enormous  fines  by  the  council 
in  the  Star  Chamber,  yet  in  the  face  of  threatened  punish- 
ment a jury  found  William  Penn  not  guilty  of  an  offense  for 
having  spoken  at  a Quaker  meeting.  A jury  relieved  the 
Virginia  planters  from  the  undue  burden  of  a tobacco  tax, 
though  all  the  influence  of  prerogative  was  used  to  enforce 
that  burden.  The  jury  system  had  no  place  upon  the  con- 
tinent of  modern  Europe  until  it  was  introduced  by  the 
French  Revolution.  Since  then  it  has  been  quite  generally 
adopted  in  some  form  and  with  various  limitations  for  the 
trial  of  the  more  grave  criminal  causes,  but  it  has  not  been 
used  in  determining  civil  matters,  the  continental  jurists 
thinking  the  system  not  well  adapted  to  such  use.  One  of 
the  French  jurists  has  well  said:  “Of  all  the  positions  of 

trust  which  the  law  can  confer  on  a citizen,  there  is  not 
one  which  requires  more  of  discernment,  of  independence 
and  of  real  morality,  than  that  of  juryman;  and  a study  of 
the  political  movements  and  reforms  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  for  the  past  century  will  show  the  profound  interest 


3i 


“the  jury/' 

which  the  jury  has  excited  there,  while  the  number  of  laws 
that  have  been  enacted  with  a view  to  bringing  good  men 
into  the  jury  box  and  regulating  their  actions  'according  to 
the  best  principles,  testifies  to  the  fact  that  the  author  above 
quoted  but  voices  a general  conviction.”  (Dr.  Scaife.) 

In  1864  the  jury  system  obtained  a foothold  in  Russia, 
the  land  of  absolute  monarchy.  While  the  system  is  thus 
growing  and  extending  over  continental  Europe,  it  is  with  * 
us  growing  more  and  more  common  to  hear  disparaging 
remarks  about  the  jury  and  our  jury  system.  There  may 
be  just  cause  of  complaint  as  to  the  particulars  of  our 
jury  system  and  its  workings  as  now  constituted.  If  so, 
then  the  people  should  by  apt  laws  remedy  the  defect  and 
not  destroy  the  system.  There  is  no  perfect  human  law, 
and  the  best  human  ingenuity  can  devise  will  only  approx- 
imately secure  right  and  justice  among  men.  Those  laws 
best  considered  and  best  adapted  to  the  purposes  intended 
and  most  generally  accepted  in  particular  cases,  sometimes 
result  in  hardship.  If  the  results  are  uncertain,  so  are  all 
human  judgments.  Are  the  judgments  of  Chancery  Courts 
more  easy  to  forecast  than  the  verdict  of  the  jury?  Richard 
Francis,  more  than  a hundred  years  ago,  said  it  was  a 
common  objection  that  courts  of  equity  were  uncertain  and 
precarious,  and  the  unhappy  suitor  must  enter  such  court 
with  doubts  and  fears.  Whether  the  conditions  have  im- 
proved, each  may  answer  for  himself  if  the  number  of  ap- 
peals and  reversals  do  not  answer  it  for  him.  As  the  old 
English  king  made  the  length  of  his  arm  the  standard 
length  of  the  English  ell.  so  monarchs  and  rulers  are  still 
disposed  to  insist  that  their  conscience  is  the  measure  of 
good  and  evil,  and  justice  can  only  proceed  from  them  in 
the  business  affairs  of  everyday  life.  However,  the  fact  is 
that  there  is  no  perfect  human  judgment  or  conscience. 
The  men  of  science,  trained  to  thought  and  deliberate  study, 
watching  the  heavens  night  after  night  through  the  tele- 
scope, find  that  their  observations  of  the  same  body  at  the 


32 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


same  time  do  not  agree,  and  through  extended  comparison 
of  many  observations  by  a corps  of  observers  they  compute 
and  assign  to  each  his  tendency  to  error,  which  is  called 
personal  equation,  and  which  is  considered  as  inhering  in 
all  of  his  observations.  So  we,  men  of  the  law,  as  well  as 
men  of  the  business  world  and  ordinary  jurors,  each  and  all 
have  our  personal  equation,  but  we  have  not,  like  the  men 
of  science,  by  extensive  comparison,  measured  and  deter- 
mined what  it  is.  Duport,  advocating  the  introduction  of 
the  jury  system  into  France,  said : “Every  man  can  be  used 
for  unearthing  a fact.”  We  cannot  in  this  age  and  time  use 
every  man.  The  multitude  of  causes  and  necessities  of  civil 
life  forbid.  Many  are  by  nature  or  by  want  of  education 
ill  adapted  to  such  service  generally,  and  their  personal 
equation  is  so  great  as  to  render  their  use  undesirable.  It 
is  therefore  wise  to  impose  restrictions  in  selecting  jurors, 
so  that  the  more  capable  can  be  chosen.  Jurors  selected 
with  reasonable  care  from  the  various  walks  of  life,  having 
due  regard  to  character  and  judgment,  will  each  present  in 
the  jury  room  some  personal  equation,  some  tendency  to 
error,  but  these  tendencies  will  vary  with  the  individuals, 
and  each  will  in  some  measure  offset  and  modify  the  other 
so  that  the  joint  personal  equation  of  the  twelve  men  will 
be  minimized  in  the  verdict.  In  Iowa  the  recent  jury  law 
was  framed  to  carry  out  the  thought  of  Duport  and  to  make 
all  voters  in  turn  serve  upon  the  jury.  The  law  makes  the 
jury  thoroughly  representative.  It  brought  into  the  jury 
box  all  classes  and  conditions,  indifferent  and  bad  jurors 
as  well  as  good  ones,  and  no  doubt,  in  some  localities,  the 
change  from  a system  of  selected  names  as  eligible  jury- 
men, was  a change  for  the  worse.  It  is  desirable  that  the 
list  of  eligible  jurymen  should  be  as  extensive  and  as  thor- 
oughly representative  as  reasonable  care  can  make  it,  but 
with  such  limitations  that  it  may  not  be  truly  said  : 

“The  jury  passing  on  the  prisoner’s  life, 

May  in  the  sworn  twelve,  have  a thief  or  two 
Guiltier  than  him  they  try.” 


"our  country.”  33 

The  present  jury  laws  may  need  modification  and  be 
capable  of  improvement,  but  in  its  essential  character  the 
jury  should  remain  a permanent  institution  in  all  free  gov- 
ernments, for  it  is  the  best  system  devised  by  man  for  the 
trial  of  criminal  causes  and  issues  of  fact  involving  conflict 
of  testimony. 

“For  men’s  judgments  are 
A parcel  of  their  fortunes;  and  all  things  outward 
Do  draw  the  inward  quality  after  them.” 


“ OUR  COUNTRY.” 

Response  by  Hon.  Thos.  F.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  at  a banquet  of  the  Iroquois 
Club,  at  Chicago,  April  13,  1883. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Iroquois  Club: 

The  toast  you  have  just  given  is  surely  the  best  in  the 
world  to  bring  an  American  a thousand  miles  to  respond  to 
it,  and  no  better  place  for  such  response  can  be  found  than 
this  proudly  representative  city  of  Chicago — so  distinctively 
American — where  the  pulsations  of  energy,  enterprise,  and 
feeling  are  so  full,  warm  and  strong,  and  the  characteristics 
of  our  country  so  splendidly  illustrated.  And  in  what 
assemblage  can  such  a theme  be  more  properly  contem- 
plated and  discussed  than  that  in  which  I happily  find  my- 
self to-night?  For  I see  around  me  a group  of  my  fellow- 
countrymen,  called  together  from  private  occupations  by 
a common  impulse  of  patriotic  observance  and  commemora- 
tion, animated  by  a public  spirit,  seeking  only  to  promote 
the  cause  of  good  government  and  the  prosperity  of  all 
classes  through  the  organization  of  a political  party  as  the 
only  efficient  means  to  the  great  end — the  regulation  and 
control  of  all  the  elements  to  society  by  a system  of  laws 
enacted  and  forms  ordained  for  self-government  by  the 
people — a government  of  a great  family  of  republics,  each 
exercising  for  itself,  and  within  its  borders,  the  essential 
rights,  and  fulfilling  the  correspondent  duties  of  local  self- 
government,  and  all  bound  in  a union  for  a common  defense 


34 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


and  the  general  welfare  under  a written  constitution  of  dele- 
gated and  limited  powers. 

The  topic  you  have  selected  is  the  highest,  our  place  of 
meeting  the  fittest,  this  assemblage  the  most  congenial,  and 
the  occasion,  the  143rd  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  illus- 
trious author  of  the  declaration  of  American  independence, 
“The  title-deed  of  the  liberties  of  the  American  people/’ 

Do  not  suppose  that  I am  so  unmindful  of  the  proprieties 
of  the  occasion,  or  so  ungrateful  as  to  requite  your  hospitali- 
ties by  a long  recital  of  statistics  of  the  wealth  and  progress 
of  this  country.  What  I have  to  say  shall  be  said  shortly. 

Grand  as  is  our  own  heritage,  magnificent  and  mar- 
velous as  is  the  landed  estate  which  we  call  “our  country,” 
it  is  its  soul  rather  than  its  body,  the  jewel  rather  than  the 
casket  containing  it,  which  attracts  my  thought  to-night, 
and  impels  me  to  invite  yours.  And  yet  a glance  at  this 
grand  empire  of  land  and  sea,  upon  whose  sides  break  the 
waves  of  two  oceans,  over  whose  fair  and  ample  bosom 
countless  rivers  thread  their  way,  like  veins  carrying  life- 
blood  and  fructification  for  the  millions  who  gather  strength 
and  subsistence  from  such  exuberant  fountains  of  supply, 
may  imperfectly  disclose  the  material  force — the  actual  ex- 
tent of  the  land  so  bounteously  given  to  us  for  our  own  use 
for  life,  and  in  remainder  to  our  posterity  forever. 

For,  in  the  language  of  Webster,  “We  are  in  the  line 
of  conveyance  through  which,  whatever  has  been  obtained 
by  the  spirit  and  efforts  of  our  ancestors,  is  to  be  communi- 
cated to  our  children.” 

With  no  desire  to  inflate  national  vanity,  it  may  not  be 
uninstructive  to  take  a glance  over  this  vast  unbroken  area 
of  our  dominions,  almost  four  millions  of  square  miles,  an 
acreage  staggering  to  arithmetical  expression ; with  a pres- 
ent population  of  55,000,000,  and  increased  by  an  annual 
immigration  of  nearly  one  million ; with  climate  infinite  in 
its  variety,  soils  teeming  with  every  vegetable  production 
known  to  man’s  imagination  or  needed  for  his  use;  mines 


35 


“our  country.” 

of  every  metal,  precious  and  base ; a land  so  vast  in  extent, 
so  varied  in  feature,  so  replete  in  all  that  can  elevate  and 
gratify  human  feeling  and  imagination,  or  exalt  the  sense  of 
religious  gratitude;  within  whose  borders  a lifetime  could 
well  be  spent  in  travel  and  discovery,  to  find  at  its  close  that 
but  a fragment  of  the  great  whole  had  been  seen,  and  its 
marvelous  capacities  and  beauties  scarcely  comprehended. 

Standing  thus  upon  the  highlands  of  vision,  realizing 
the  material  forces  placed  in  our  care,  how  important,  how 
dignified,  becomes  the  duties  of  each  American  citizen ! 
How  vast  the  interests  committed  to  his  charge ! For  we 
cannot  disguise  the  presence  nor  lessen  the  weight  upon  the 
members  of  a democratic  republic,  of  individual  as  well  as 
collective  responsibilities  to  administer  well  and  wisely  the 
affairs  of  so  great  an  empire,  so  vast  a body  of  human  in- 
terests. 

And  the  soul  of  our  country  is  the  spirit  of  justice  and 
liberty,  finding  expression  under  equal  laws,  for  the  preser- 
vation of  which  the  written  Constitution  of  our  Union  was 
ordained,  and  the  free  institutions  of  our  government 
founded. 

Left  free  and  unfettered  to  proclaim  and  assert  them- 
selves, the  intelligence  and  faculties  of  mankind  have  vindi- 
cated by  their  results  in  this  country  the  wisdom  of  non- 
interference by  the  government,  either  to  assist  or  obstruct 
the  exercise  of  individual  effort  and  faculty,  under  regula- 
tion of  equal  laws,  in  just  such  mode  and  direction  as  the 
possession  of  conscious  power  and  inclination  by  the  indi- 
vidual should  instruct. 

Hence,  we  have  seen  in  America  the  children  of  obscur- 
ity and  poverty  growing  strong  in  their  contests  with  ad- 
versity, which  elsewhere  would  have  proved  an  insuperable 
bar,  but,  under  the  equity  of  our  American  system,  become 
guides  and  instructors  to  success — tests  for  growing  abilities, 
and  encouragements  to  high  and  honorable  aspirations. 

The  enduring  greatness  of  our  country  is  founded  upon 


36 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


what  is  really  elevated  and  great  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
our  people.  Let  us  never  forget  that  we  have  embarked  our 
hopes  upon  trust — and  not  upon  distrust — in  human  nature ; 
upon  what  it  contains  of  strength  and  worth,  and  not  upon 
its  weakness  and  depravity ; upon  the  belief  that  the  instinct 
of  self-preservation,  left  free  to  recoil  from  natural  and 
necessary  errors  and  mistakes,  will  not  repeat  them;  and 
that,  with  free  and  recurrent  opportunities  for  popular  elec- 
tions, misconduct  in  rulers  and  mistakes  in  public  policies 
can  and  will  be  corrected  and  remedied,  under  the  peaceful, 
orderly  and  effective  forms  of  law. 

And  can  we  be  mistaken  in  the  present  indications  so 
manifest  and  abundant,  that  we  are  soon  to  witness,  in  the 
election  of  1884,  a splendid  and  potential  proof  of  popular 
wisdom  and  power  to  redress  grievances,  reform  unwise 
policies,  rebuke  corruption,  and  purify  and  strengthen  pop- 
ular institutions ; by  driving  out  of  the  temple  of  our  liberties 
the  mercenary  and  machine  politicians  who  have  betrayed 
popular  trust  and  disgraced  and  degraded  the  administration 
of  our  government? 

Gentlemen,  the  era  which  includes  our  lifetime  is  one 
of  remarkable,  almost  incredible,  combination  of  the  results 
of  invention  in  production  of  material  wealth,  in  the  rapid 
and  facile  distribution  of  that  wealth,  and  the  bringing  of  the 
whole  world  into  such  close  and  intimate  relation  that  all 
former  conditions  of  human  intercourse  are  changed,  and 
problems  bewildering  in  number  and  importance  are  pre- 
sented to  our  view. 

Time  and  space  are  no  longer  obstructions  to  the  world’s 
intercourse.  The  telephone  has  already  brought  the  lips  of 
New  York  close  against  the  ear  of  Chicago,  and  to  “girdle 
the  earth  in  forty  minutes”  would  be  to-day  an  unpardon- 
able waste  of  time. 

Never  in  human  history  was  the  creation  of  material 
wealth  so  easy,  and  so  marvelously  abundant.  Its  consoli- 
dation, under  the  forms  of  incorporation,  is  creating  vast 


37 


“our  country.” 

units  of  power  which  result  in  monopolies,  and  absorb  and 
overthrow  individual  and  independent  rivalries.  Herein  are 
dangers  it  will  behoove  us  gravely  to  contemplate,  and  con- 
sider what  forces  shall  be  summoned  to  counteract  them. 
The  great  question  which  attends  this  creation  of  wealth  is : 
What  will  you  do  with  it? 

Are  we  to  be  content  with  making  this  land  of  ours  one 
great  wealth- factory ? Is  that  to  be  the  all  and  end  all? 
Are  we  to  travel  over  the  same  lowlands  of  luxury,  effem- 
inacy, corruption  and  decay  as  the  nations  and  governments 
that  have  risen  and  fallen  before  us  on  the  plains  of  history? 

On  what  do  we  build,  and  for  what  do  we  build  ? What 
greatness  do  we  seek  to  achieve  ? To  what  do  our  institu- 
tions tend? 

Is  it  the  creation  of  mere  wealth?  or  is  it  the  advance- 
ment and  elevation  of  the  human  race?  Shall  we  not  light 
up  our  pathway  of  progress  as  a people  with  more  of  justice, 
more  of  benevolence,  more  of  the  higher  attributes  that  stir 
within  our  hearts  and  dignify  our  manhood  ? 

The  Greek  called  man  anthropos — “one  with  face  turned 
upward.”  And  what  shall  be  the  use  of  all  our  wealth- 
creating  inventions  if  they  do  not  turn  man’s  face  upward, 
and  create  a higher  range  of  personal  feeling,  ambition,  and 
action  for  our  people? 

Shall  not  the  possession  of  wealth  bring  not  merely  lux- 
ury, culture  and  refinement,  but  also  a high  spirit  of  benefi- 
cence guided  by  justice,  and  justice  adorned  with  the  gar- 
lands of  benevolence  ? 

Shall  we  not  encourage  mankind  to  higher  ends  by  ad- 
vancing to  public  power  only  the  wise,  the  honorable,  and 
the  true,  and  turning  with  disdain  from  the  time-servers, 
demagogues,  and  plutocrats  of  our  time,  who  sneer  at  dis- 
interested efforts  and  honest  attempts  to  purify  and  reform 
our  civil  service,  and  believe  the  best  route  to  success  is  a 
“star  route?” 


38 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


Shall  we  not  multiply  our  charities,  and  lift  from  the 
weak  and  unfortunate  of  our  species 

“Their  portion  of  that  weight  of  care 
That  crushes  into  dumb  despair, 

One-half  the  human  race!” 

If  we  are  to  have  wealth  in  houses,  lands,  in  physical 
luxuries  and  comforts,  if  “palaces  are  to  rise  like  exhala- 
tions, and  equipages  flash  like  meteors/’  let  us  also  create 
and  foster  a wealth  of  honorable  traditions,  of  lives  and 
names  made  glorious  and  immortal  by  justice,  heroism, 
and  unselfishness ; wealth  of  art,  scholarship,  and  learning ; 
wealth  of  science  and  philosophy  ; wealth  of  public  morality, 
of  charity  and  religious  faith.  The  strength  of  a people  is 
not  merely  the  physical  strength,  natural  advantages,  and 
material  resources.  Strong  fortresses,  chains  of  mountains, 
rugged  frontiers  and  deep  seas  do  not  of  themselves  protect 
a country.  It  is  the  living  wall  of  brave  hearts  and  willing 
arms  that  constitute  its  sure  and  chief  defense.  The  strong- 
est fortress  in  the  known  world  is  the  rock  of  Gibraltar,  and 
for  nearly  two  centuries  it  has  been  held  by  the  mailed  hand 
of  an  alien  and  a stranger ; a menace  and  an  abiding  re- 
proach to'  the  kingdom  and  the  people  who  surround  it,  be- 
cause a braver  and  a bolder  hand  than  its  natural  owners  has 
taken  and  withheld  it  from  them. 

The  essential  integer  of  our  country,  the  seminal  princi- 
ple of  American  government,  the  germ  of  our  greatness  as 
a people,  is  the  independent,  fearless,  individual  man,  the 
founder  and  head  of  the  family,  whose  social  and  political 
influence  enlarges  itself  from  the  family  into  the  State.  For 
the  family  is  the  birthplace  and  nursery  of  the  fireside  vir- 
tues. Home  bred — bred  at  home.  Honor,  truthfulness 
and  courage,  self-denial  and  modesty,  charity  and  honesty — 
these  are  the  qualities  which  enlarge  their  influences  from 
the  home  to  the  neighborhood,  until  they  permeate  the  com- 
munity, pervade  the  State,  and  public  sentiment  at  last  be- 


39 


“our  country.” 

comes  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  personal  worth  and  in- 
tegrity. 

In  the  ultimate  settlement  of  the  gravest  affairs  of  na- 
tions, these  are  the  qualities  upon  which  men  must  rely  for 
safety  and  good  order,  and  under  the  form  of  government 
we  have  adopted  the  need  for  their  cultivation  and  ascend- 
ency seems  greater  even  than  elsewhere.  They  must  be  rep- 
resented somewhere  in  our  government.  Therefore,  wheth- 
er you  call  it  local  self-government  or  home-rule  (which 
to  me  has  a sweeter  sound),  I am  deeply-impressed  with  the 
necessity  for  its  restoration  in  full  force  in  the  broad1  Union, 
equally  for  the  strength  and  safety  of  the  Union  as  well  as 
of  these  pillars  of  State,  of  which  that  Union  is  composed, 
and  upon  whose  integrity  it  depends ; and  this  is  one  of 
the  most  important  duties  of  the  political  party  to  which 
we  are  attached. 

A proper  regulation  of  the  two  opposing  forces,  the 
centrifugal  and  the  centripetal,  maintains  a true  equilib- 
rium, but  for  the  last  twenty  years  the  latter  force  has  been 
over-exercised,  and  the  former  weakened  by  disuse. 

Centralization  of  power  and  action  is  the  obvious  result 
of  the  invention  of  steam  and  telegraphy,  and  the  safety  of 
our  popular  institutions  demands  decentralization — distri- 
bution of  power,  and  its  exercise  for  local  self-government 
by  those  whose  daily  lives  and  interests  are  to  be  affected 
by  it.  Home-rule,  or  local  self-government,  is  the  right 
as  it  is  a necessity  for  the  American  citizen — and  it  is  the 
intent  and  meaning  of  our  written  constitution  of  union. 

The  strength  of  a State  rests  upon  the  number  of  up- 
right, independent,  self-reliant,  self-respecting  individuals  it 
contains ; and  under  our  democratic  theories  of  government 
all  invasions  of  individual  freedom  of  conscience  and  action, 
not  essential  for  the  preservation  of  social  order,  and  the 
protection  of  individual  and  public  rights,  are  unwise  and 
unwarranted.  ' 

All  tendencies  of  legislation  which,  ignoring  individual 


40 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


responsibility,  substitute  governmental  control  in  matters 
social  and  personal,  weakens  the  powers  of  the  individual, 
and  enfeebling  them  by  disuse,  lessens  their  agency  in  the 
good  government  of  himself  and  his  family.  In  this  mis- 
chievous substitution  of  governmental  power  in  matters 
social  and  personal  lies  the  objection  to  sumptuary  laws, 
interference  with  conscience  in  social  and  religious  affairs, 
invasion  of  the  domain  of  private  opinion  and  personal  lib- 
erty, which  seeks  to  impose  penalties  for  anticipated  acts 
and  offences  as  yet  uncommitted. 

This  spirit  of  unwise  and  unjust  interference  by  the  gov- 
ernment is  the  objection  to  laiws  which,  under  the  name  of 
taxation,  favor  certain  classes  of  occupation  at  the  cost  of 
the  others,  and  abridge  that  freedom  of  contract  and  com- 
mercial intercourse  which  an  enlightened  and  enlarged  sense 
of  self-interest  should  control. 

It  is,  in  fact,  the  principle  of  socialism,  of  communism, 
of  paternal  oversight  of  the  government  substituted  for  in- 
dividual endeavor,  guided  by  intelligent  self-interest,  and 
restrained  by  individual  conscience. 

It  is  to  promote  the  healthy  sentiment  and  habit  of  self- 
reliant  manhood  that  the  Democratic  party  throughout  the 
United  States  insist  upon  the  fullest  degrees  of  individual 
liberty  of  conscience  and  action  consistent  with  public  safety 
and  the  rights  of  others ; and  for  that  reason  we  deprecate 
all  unnecessary  interference  with  the  rights  of  local  self- 
government,  and  all  class  legislation  by  the  general  govern- 
ment which  assumes  guardianship  and  protection  over  the 
business  of  the  private  citizen,  and  functions  of  control  over 
matters  of  domestic  and  local  interest. 

We  must  carefully  and  jealously  insist  that  the  true  germ 
and  real  basis  of  the  greatness  of  our  country  should  not 
be  obscured  and  overlooked,  and  public  control  allowed 
over  matters  properly  belonging  to  private  jurisdiction.  We 
need  this  as  a check  upon  the  centralizing  influences,  the 
consolidation  of  wealth  and  power,  and  the  tyranny  of  party 


“democracy;  past,  present  and  future/'  41 

organization;  all  of  which  tend  to  wither  individual  man- 
hood and  conscience,  and  absolve  men  from  the  sense  of 
personal  duty  and  obligation. 

The  emphasis  and  reiteration  of  this  thought  may  assist 
us  to  comprehend  the  strength  and  glory  of  our  free  insti- 
tutions, and  the  conditions  upon  which  they  may  secure 
their  perpetuity,  and  which,  if  accepted,  fastens  upon  each 
one  of  us  as  an  integer  in  that  strength  and  greatness  a 
fuller  sense  of  his  responsibility. 

Such  contemplation  cannot  fail  to  send  us  back  to  our 
respective  scenes  of  labor  elevated  and  invigorated  by  a 
comprehension  of  the  trust  committed  to  our  hands,  so  that 
the  political  party  we  sustain  shall  indeed  become  worthy 
means  to  a noble  end,  the  advancement  of  the  honor  and 
welfare  of  our  country. 

Therefore,  let  us  join  in  the  sentiment,  “Our  Country/' 
May  the  administration  of  its  government  be  intrusted  only 
to  those  who  love  each  member  of  the  Union,  and  respect 
equally  the  rights  of  each  and  the  rights  of  all.  And  may 
we  ever  comprehend  that  our  country's  greatness  consists, 
not  in  the  wealth  of  its  inhabitants,  nor  the  extent  of  its  do- 
minion, but  in  the  fitness  of  its  people  to  maintain  justice, 
liberty,  and  conscientious  manhood  through  the  agency  of 
popular  self-government. 


“DEMOCRACY;  PAST,  PRESENT  AND  FUTURE." 

Response  by  Col.  William  F.  Vilas,  of  Wisconsin,  at  a banquet  of  the  Iroquois 
Club,  at  Chicago,  April  13,  1883. 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Iroquois  Club : 

You  propose  a sentiment  as  grateful  to  feeling  as  it  is 
honorable  to  discuss  in  this  splendid  presence  at  your  festal 
board.  The  pure  origin,  high  principles  and  happy  career 
o'f  the  Constitutional  Democracy  of  the  Union,  as  estab- 
lished and  conducted  by  the  fathers,  are  both  delightful  to 
contemplate  and  pregnant  with  admonition  of  present  duty. 


A2 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


To  a lover  of  his  country  and  his  kind,  the  theme  is  en- 
trancing, and  moderation  with  difficulty  subdues  ardor,  to 
make  the  retrospect  a calm  lesson. 

The  success  of  our  Revolutionary  arms  bestowed  on 
mankind  a continent  to  which  princes  were  strangers,  and 
where  the  divinity  of  kingship  was  laughed  to  scorn  by  na- 
ture’s majesty.  The  dream  of  liberty,  which  for  centuries 
of  despotism  had  tortured  humanity  like  a nightmare,  was 
a waking  reality  of  joy.  At  last  force  and  law  were  at  one, 
and  the  power  of  government  was  with  the  right  of  gov- 
ernment, in  the  hands  of  the  people  to  be  governed.  Hap- 
pier still,  virtue  and  capability  prevailed  to  sway  thatscep- 
ter.  Cromwell  could  not  destroy  the  king  and  overturn 
the  kingdom ; the  blood  of  his  zealots  fertilized  flowers  for 
Charles  the  Second,  and  the  commons  of  Britain  remain 
the  empire’s  third  estate  to-day.  In  fortunate  America,  the 
opportunity  gained  by  arms  was  not  lost  in  dissension  or 
smothered  by  habits. 

Wisdom  and  liberty  crystallized  in  the  Constitution, 
that  most  blessed  work  conceived  of  heaven  in  the  human 
brain. 

Then  the  great  experiment  began.  A happy  flush  of 
enthusiasm  and  affectionate  devotion  to  the  god-like  Wash- 
ington appointed,  without  division,  the  opening  administra- 
tion. It  was  fraternity  too  pure  to  long  sustain  the  assault 
of  human  passions.  America  is  not  Utopia,  and  divisions 
must  follow  inevitable  differences.  A few  years  distin- 
guished parties  by  a line  to  be  expected  from  human  nature 
and  the  history  of  men.  It  holds  to-day,  as  then,  marking 
the  aristocratic  greed  for  special  privileges  to  classes, 
against  the  democratic  love  of  common  humanity,  demand- 
ing equal  privileges  for  all.  On  the  one  hand  gathered 
they  who — though  patriotic  and  manly  in  resisting  the 
arrogant  tyranny  of  England — yet  timidly  distrusted  the 
people,  favored  a strong  centralized  government,  and,  un- 
der the  form  of  a republic,  would  have  preserved  much  of 


“democracy;  past,  present  and  future.”  43 

the  reality  of  the  empire.  On  the  other  were  the  intrepid 
philosophers  and  statesmen  who  accepted  the  convictions  of 
their  logic,  religiously  loved  their  race,  believed  and  trusted 
in  the  people  and  regarded  all  institutions  of  government 
only  valuable  as  they  subserved  the  common  welfare  of 
equal  humanity. 

To  them,  the  new  Constitution  and  the  new  Union  were 
not  to  establish  governors  upon  and  over  the  people,  but 
a beneficent  means  by  which  self-government  and  individual 
liberty  were  forever  secured,  and  the  agencies  of  the  popular 
will  defined  and  limited. 

Not  in  any  spirit  of  demagoguery,  nor  from  any  effemi- 
nate sentimentalism,  but  with  exalted  philanthropy  and 
profound  philosophy,  and  in  the  strength  of  freedom,  they 
arrayed  themselves  as  the  popular  party,  and  the  champions 
of  popular  rights.  With  dramatic  fitness,  its  character  was 
marked,  its  perpetuity  guaranteed,  when  its  foremost  ban- 
ner was  flung  to'  the  breeze  by  the  hand  that  penned  the 
declaration  of  our  independence  as  a Nation,  the  immortal 
philosopher  and  statesman  of  Monticello,  whose  fortunate 
gift  to  a favored  land  we  choose  to  celebrate  to-night. 

Looking  over  the  gulf  of  war  upon  the  vista  of  the  past, 
how  bright  appears  the  career  then  inaugurated ! From 
the  Presidency  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  for  half  a century  and 
more,  with  but  brief  gusts  of  fitfulness  which  testified  their 
freedom,  the  American  people  confided  to  that  partv  the 
keeping  of  their  republic.  With  the  gigantic  ease  of  Atlas, 
it  bore  the  new  world  upon  its  shoulders.  In  its  hands, 
government  was  simple,  cheap  and  without  burden,  and 
this  nation  rose  before  mankind  from  weakness  to  power, 
from  poverty  to  riches,  from  insignificance  to  grandeur. 
Bv  its  guidance,  the  republic  obtained,  in  veritable  fact, 
“her  equal  station  among  the  powers  of  the  earth,”  ex- 
tended her  domain  to>  the  continent’s  utmost  shore,  with  her 
sails  whitened  everv  sea,  and  spread  her  starry  flag,  em- 
blem of  power,  in  the  skies  of  every  port  in  the  world.  Un- 


44 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


der  its  care  her  people  advanced  in  education  and  intelli- 
gence, generally  diffused,  in  riches,  well  distributed ; works 
of  improvement  proceeded  without  overshadowing  corpo- 
rations or  depletion  of  the  Nation’s  treasury,  and  equality  in 
liberty  kept  pace  with  progress  in  science,  arts  and  mate- 
rial prosperity.  Mingling  enterprising  spirits  from  every 
civilized  land,  our  people  reveled  in  the  successful  “pursuit 
of  happiness,”  joyous  as  the  laughter  of  children  gathering 
the  fruits  of  autumn. 

Unexpectedly,  a fearful  tornado  fell  from  this  sunny 
sky,  and  in  its  spinning  vortex  the  laws  of  our  liberty  and 
happiness  helplessly  whirled  into  chaos,  and,  finally,  lay 
scattered  upon  its  track,  amid  the  ruins  of  property  and  the 
wreck  of  ife.  And  there,  in  great  part,  they  have  been  suf- 
fered to  lie,  as  if  destroyed  or  valueless,  while,  with  venge- 
ful wrath,  the  wake  of  ruin  has  been  cleared.  Hate  and 
passion  have  outvoted  every  other  sentiment,  and  dema- 
gogues have  quickly  pressed  the  bellows  when  the  embers 
cooled.  Profiting  by  the  opportunity,  conspiracy,  in  vari- 
ous shapes,  has  aimed  its  secret  machinations  at  the  dear- 
est privileges  of  a free  people.  For  party  ends,  it  has  stran- 
gled the  popular  voice,  to  put  the  reins  of  power  in  fraudu- 
lent hands ; it  has  perverted  and  abused  the  Federal  agency, 
to  the  injury  of  local  and  State  government.  For  private 
gain,  it  has  corrupted  legislation  for  the  use  of  classes  and 
monopolies,  to  the  enormous  acquisition  by  few  of  the 
fruits  of  the  labor  of  the  people.  It  has  made  our  navy  a 
by-word,  and  denied  to  our  merchant  marine  the  industries 
of  the  sea.  It  has  squandered  our  wealth  of  land,  and 
drawn  the  bars  of  the  treasury  that  jobbery  and  robbery 
might  plunder  it.  And,  for  both  objects,  with  the  spoil  of 
the  people,  it  has  inoculated  the  freeman  at  the  polls  with 
corruption,  which  steals  his  manhood  as  the  immoderate 
cup  bereaves  the  brain. 

The  practice  of  tyrannical  methods,  so  long  indulged, 
obediently  to  natural  law,  has  extended  to  every  phase  of 


45 


“democracy;  past,  present  and  future/' 

political  action.  It  has  dominated  all  the  usages  of  the  ad- 
ministration party,  until  men  of  independent  thought  are 
denied  the  libery  of  voice  within  its  pale. 

For  the  extinction  of  slavery  and  perpetual  security  to 
the  Union — the  gain  of  war — the  cost  of  life  and  wealth 
the  republic  could  well  afford  to  pay.  It  cannot  afford  this 
additional  waste  of  the  safeguards  of  liberty,  unless  it 
speedily  cease.  It  threatens  not  ourselves  and  our  pros- 
perity alone,  but  our  children  and  the  race. 

It  avails  nothing  to  criminate  or  recriminate  the  author- 
ship or  causes.  It  avails  nothing  to  defend  or  apologize  for 
the  action  of  the  so-called  Democratic  party  of  twenty  years 
ago,  and  later.  It  must  be  conceded  that  it  has  kept  some 
bad  company  and  been  visited  with  its  effects.  But  “sweet 
are  the  uses  of  adversity may  we  have  profited  by  them ! 

There  must  be  a change,  and  a great  change ; a change 
of  sentiment  and  a change  of  methods.  The  controversies 
and  passions  begotten  of  the  war  are  things  of  the  past,  use- 
ful only  in  their  teachings  of  errors  to  avoid.  New  ideas, 
new  purposes,  new  issues  and  new  political  associations  are 
before  us.  Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  the  change  has 
already  begun.  To  your  credit  and  honor  the  keynote  of 
that  change,  most  fruitful  to  our  hope,  was  sounded  at  your 
banquet  last  year,  and  resounded  with  cheerful  melody  in 
the  elections  of  last  fall. 

To  overthrow  the  gigantic  forms  of  error  and  wrong 
which  have  intrenched  and  fortified,  almost  unobserved,  for 
these  twenty  years,  will  require  the  concerted  energy  of  all 
the  best  of  every  political  complexion.  There  must  be 
political  association  to  unite  them,  without  animosities  to 
prosecute  or  revenges  to  gratify ; its  face  set  forward  to  do 
the  mighty  work  incumbent  on  the  people  of  to-day.  All 
philosophy  and  reason  teach  that  its  germ  must  lie  with  the 
party  in  opposition,  for  the  evils  are  rooted  tin  the  party  in 
administration.  But  its  blossom  and  fruitage  will  spring 
from  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  whole  people. 


46 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


Your  conference  of  last  year  invited  recurrence  to  the 
teachings  of  the  fathers  for  light  and  inspiration  on  the  path 
ahead.  It  is  the  dictate  of  wisdom.  It  will  revive  a party 
of  the  people,  instant  and  zealous,  to  demand  and  secure 
their  rights  and  privileges. 

The  country  needs  renewal  of  the  faith  and  doctrine  of 
the  old  democracy  of  Jefferson.  Now,  as  then,  it  is  ade- 
quate, and  nothing  less  is  adequate,  to  maintain  constitu- 
tional government  and  constitutional  liberty.  Now,  as  then, 
it  will  prove  the  road  to  happiness  and  prosperity. 

We  want  it,  to  defend  against  the  Nation’s  most  insid- 
ious peril,  centralization  of  powers,  unnecessary  to  the  com- 
mon welfare  of  the  Union.  We  want  it  to  reform  our  civil 
service,  to  restore  honesty,  capability  and  fidelity  to  supre- 
macy as  qualifications  for  office.  We  want  it  to  give  again 
purity,  integrity,  simplicity  and  economy  to  the  administra- 
tion of  government.  We  want  it  to  suppress  the  tyranny 
of  “bossism,”  and  open  the  ways  of  political  service  to  self- 
respecting  manhood ; to  put  a period  to  the  canting  Peck- 
sniffism  in  office,  which  so  long  has  openly  prated  virtue 
and  secretly  practiced  iniquity,  and  give  us  again  the  plain 
and  sturdy  public  servants  of  ‘ the  olden  days,  who  are 
what  they  seem.  We  want  it,  to  stop  the  plunder  of  office- 
holders  by  assessments,  and  to  put  down  that  secret  treason 
of  distrust  iwhich  resorts  to  corruption  as  better  than  argu- 
ment to  win  the  judgment  of  the  people.  We  want  it  for 
its  equality  and  philanthropy,  for  its  broad  faith  and  in- 
trepid confidence  in  humanity,  for  its  love  of  justice  to  all, 
for  its  abhorrence  of  class  favoritism  in  legislation,  taxation 
and  administration. 

There  rest  the  principles  which  must  animate  and  sus- 
tain the  people’s  cause  in  the  tremendous  conflict  immedi- 
ately impending.  I need  hardly  name  it.  No  man  can 
longer  shut  his  eyes  to  the  open  fact.  There  must  and  will 
be  aggressive  and  relentless  war  against  the  dominion  of 
monopoly,  and  the  oppression  of  iniquitous  taxation  and 


“democracy;  past,  present  and  future.”  47 

unjust  laws.  Many  forms  of  this  tyranny  beset  us.  But 
one  overshadows  all  the  rest,  demands  the  earliestt  redress, 
and  challenges  the  greatest  effort.  Its  long,  felonious  ten- 
tacles have  bound  their  prehensile  grip  upon  every  mode 
of  primary  production,  every  source  of  wealth.  They  are 
fastened  upon  all  parties,  all  classes  and  conditions.  It  is 
a conspiracy  against  the  people  so  comprehensive  that 
every  community  holds  its  agents,  so  potential  that  Con- 
gress has  obeyed  it  for  more  than  twenty  years.  There 
stands  the  enemy,  there  lies  the  battle-field,  and  there  the 
battle  is  at  hand ! I give  you  joy  in  the  prospect  of  it ! 
The  foe  is  sturdy  and  defiant.  From  their  rampart  of 
riches,  piled  in  menacing  mass,  the  lords  of  the  tariff  pro- 
claim their  purpose  and  power  to  maintain  that  sum  of 
financial  villainy,  protective  taxation.  With  skillful  ingen- 
uity they  have  lightened  other  burdens  to  make  this  more 
secure,  and  they  fill  the  air  with  sophistries.  The  simple 
question  is:  Is  it  right  or  is  it  wrong?  For,  if  wrong,  it 

robs  the  industrious,  wealth^producing  workers  of  this 
country  of  more  than  $50,000,000  of  their  earnings  every 
year  to  fill  the  chests  of  a favored  class.  If  wrong,  it  is  a 
stupendous  wrong.  All  the  doctrines  and  traditions  of 
democracy,  springing  from  the  toil  of  liberty,  cry  out 
against  it.  It  is  heresy,  false  and  pernicious,  that  our  mil- 
lions must  labor  in  forest  and  field,  in  counting-room  and 
office,  to  maintain  any  class  of  manufacturers,  under  pre- 
tense of  pampering  any  form  of  industry.  The  spoil  en- 
riches only  the  few  masters,  enervates  labor,  and  strikes 
enterprise  with  paralysis.  With  every  material  native  to 
our  soil,  our  manufacturers,  with  profitable  adventure, 
ought  to  fill  our  own  ships,  manned  by  our  own  hardy  sea- 
men, with  products  for  every  buying  country  on  the  globe. 
But  what  do  we  see?  Our  exports  are  mostly  from  the 
farm  and  mine,  carried  in  the  ships  of  free-trade  England ; 
our  manufacturing  industries  fitted  and  limited  only  to  our 
fictitious  market,  with  prices  upheld  by  force  of  legislation, 


48 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


are  in  a state  of  intermittent  fever,  now  stimulated  <to  over- 
production, then  gasping  with  stagnation ; while  the  excel- 
lent avocations  of  ship-building  and  navigation,  which  ought 
to  furnish  manly  industry  to  hundreds  of  thousands,  languish 
in  decay. 

The  tariff  is  a form  of  slavery  not  less  hateful  because 
the  whip  is  not  exposed.  No  free  people  can,  or  will,  bear 
it.  There  is  but  one  course.  The  plan  of  protective  rob- 
bery must  be  utterly  eradicated  from  every  law  for  taxa- 
tion. With  unflinching  steadfastness,  but  moderately, 
without  destructive  haste  or  violence,  the  firm  demand  of 
freedom  must  be  persistently  pressed  until  every  dollar 
levied  in  the  name  of  government  goes  to  the  treasury,  and 
the  vast  millions  now  extorted  for  a class  are  left  in  the 
pockets  of  the  people  who  earn  the  money.  Resolute  to 
defend  the  sacred  rights  of  property,  we  must  be  resolute  to 
redress  the  flagrant  wrongs  of  property.  God  forbid  that 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  this  people  be  laid  at  the  feet  of 
Mammon ! * 

It  matters  not  that  this  controversy  shall  divide  present 
houses  or  break  the  bonds  of  past  association.  Such  dis- 
tresses must  not  be  set  in  contrast  with  the  welfare  of  a 
great  nation ; they  must  not  stay  the  demand  for  justice  of 
a mighty  people.  Nay,  they  cannot.  Nor  any  curbs  be 
long  applied.  They  only  bind  up  wrath  to  burst  in  greater 
violence  in  a day  of  wrath.  There  is  fearful  menace  to 
peace  and  happiness  in  the  spectacle  of  injustice  with  its 
foot  upon  the  necks  of  men.  Who  can  fix  his  contempla- 
tion on  the  glistening  splendors  of  our  future  without  a 
pang,  lest  our  responsibilities  undischarged  shall  sprinkle 
the  robes  of  liberty  with  blood  or  hamper  her  limbs  with 
chains  ? 

But  I may  not  weary  you  with  prolonged  discussion. 

Plant  the  old  standard  of  constitutional  democracy,  and 
beat  the  long  roll ! Summon  the  hosts  of  liberty,  and  set 
your  ranks  in  order!  If  any  fear  the  battle,  send  him  to 


“manifest  destiny.”  49 

the  rear ! If  any  will  not  serve  God,  but  prefer  Mammon, 
give  him  safe  conduct  to  the  enemy ! Invoke  in  the  house 
of  counsel  the  faith  and  philanthropy  of  Jefferson ; bring 
again  to  the  field  the  daring  alacrity  of  Jackson ! 

And  in  the  sunlight  of  our  Nation’s  destiny,  go  “where 
democratic  principles  lead  the  way,”  to  fight  the  people’s 
enemies  and  win  the  people’s  victories ! 

“MANIFEST  DESTINY.” 

Response  by  Col.  W.  C.  P.  Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky,  at  a banquet  of  the 
Iroquois  Club,  at  Chicago,  April  13,  1883. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen : 

We  celebrate  the  natal  day  of  one  who  was  neither  sol- 
dier, orator,  poet,  artist  nor  divine.  No  sect  is  called  by 
his  name ; no  graves  or  bloodstains  to  sanctify  his  triumphs ; 
no  listening  crowds  were  driven  into  acts  of  heroism  by  the 
wondrous  power  of  his  speech;  no  songs  of  his  cheer  the 
cottage  of  the  humble,  or  illuminate  the  closet  of  the  cul- 
tured; nor  did  his  genius  add  picture,  or  bust,  or  monu- 
mental pile  to  the  treasures  of  mankind.  Yet  he  wears  a 
deathless  name.  In  the  presence  of  orators  whose  eloquence 
was  never  surpassed,  by  the  very  side  of  the  matchless  Pat- 
rick Henry,  the  freeman  of  orators  and  the  orator  of  free- 
men, this  silent  man  stands  conspicuous.  In  an  era  which 
gave  Washington  to  freedom  and  Bonaparte  to  glory,  this 
swordless  man  achieved  immortality.  For  a hundred  years 
the  songs  of  the  free  have  been  sweeter  and  happier  because 
of  him,  and  at  the  symposium  of  the  gifted  he  would  sit  an 
equal  and  honored  guest ; all  who  love  religious  liberty  do 
just  honor  to  this  prophet  of  universal  toleration,  and  keep 
fresh  his  unfading  memory  with  the  sweet  charity  of  an  un- 
ceasing gratitude. 

To  another  has  been  assigned  the  grateful  task  of  doing 
honor  to  this  silent,  swordless  Thomas  Jefferson ; to  me, 
the  humbler  one  of  giving  emphasis  to  one  reason  of  his 


5o 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


success  and  of  his  immortality ; one  proof  of  his  prophetic 
genius  and  superb  gifts.  He,  more  than  any  man  of  his 
day,  foresaw  the  manifest  destiny  of  his  country;  and  he 
more  than  any  other  one  so  shaped  the  policy  of  the  country 
as  to  realize  that  destiny. 

Would  that  it  were  possible  for  us  to  enter  that,  plain 
frontier  home  by  the  babbling  Rivana,  under  the  shadow  of 
the  beautiful  Blue  Ridge,  clothed  in  the  palpitating  verdure 
oi  a new  life — on  the  spring  day  140  years  ago — when  a 
pioneer  mother,  having  passed  through  the  august  martyr- 
dom of  maternity,  lifted  up  her  heart  in  unutterable  thanks- 
giving, saying,  “I  have  gotten  a man  from  the  Lord,”  and 
putting  our  ear  on  her  heart  catch  her  musings  for  the  future 
of  “this  man  from  the  Lord.”  For  many  centuries  every 
Jewish  mother  hoped  that  her  boy  might  be  the  Messiah 
that  was  to  come.  In  every  age,  every  mother,  knowing 
the  possibilities  of  this  mysterious  and  exalted  manhood, 
sees  visions  and  dreams  of  her  son’s  future.  During  the 
long  watches  of  that  spring  night,  could  it  be  that  a divine 
hand  drew  aside  the  curtain  of  the  future  and  gave  to  this 
Virginia  mother  some  glimpses  of  these  full  and  teeming 
days?  In  her  dreams  did  she  see  the  intervening  scenes 
from  then  till  now?  Did  these  long  years  of  fruitful  glory 
and  miraculous  growth  unroll  themselves  in  ever-increasing 
radiance?  Could  we  stand  at  that  cradle-side  with  a clear 
and  proper  apprehension  of  the  world  and  America  as  it 
then  was,  and  turn  our  gaze  “adown  the  corridors  of  time,” 
and  see  the  world  and  America  of  to-day,  we  would  realize 
what  the  manifest  destiny  of  America  then  and  now  means, 
and  how  inextinguishable  is  the  debt  mankind  owes  to  him 
who  lay  unconscious  in  that  homely  cradle  under  that  low- 
eaved  roof. 

This  was  before  that  “Cornet  of  Horse”  found  Clive  for 
India,  and  Amherst  and  Wolfe  for  America;  before  Wolfe, 
on  the  heights  of  Abraham,  gave  his  life  to  conquer  this 


“MANIFEST  DESTINY.’’  5 1 

continent  to  Anglo-Saxon  language,  civilization  and  relig- 
ion. Less  than  a million  of  people  scattered  along  the  thin 
fringe  of  the  Atlantic  had  found  homes  in  this  new  world, 
and  acknowledged  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain. 
The  French  and  Spanish  seemed  as  likely  to  dominate  over 
this  Western  Hemisphere  as  the  British.  Feeble,  scattered, 
poor — 'the  grain  of  mustard-seed  was  not  smaller,  the  little 
leaven  not  more  insignificant  than  these  colonies. 

Now  reverse  the  picture.  Open  your  eyes  in  the  efful- 
gence of  this  glorious  day,  and  feast  your  heart  on  the  pic- 
ture of  this  imperial  Republic,  with  its  thirty-eight  sovereign 
States  and  its  growing  Territories.  Listen  to  the  melodious 
hum  of  its  vast  industries,  the  sweet  music  of  its  happy  and 
virtuous  homes,  the  swelling  diapason  of  its  perpetual  song 
of  plenty  and  power ; catch  the  commingling  notes  from  the 
turbulent  waves  of  the  restless  Atlantic,  from  the  placid  bil- 
lows of  the  murmuring  Pacific,  and  the  swash  of  the  great 
lakes  ; hear  the  intertwining  melody  of  the  mighty  rivers  that 
run  from  friendly  lands  through  united  States  to  protecting 
oceans.  See  the  rising  smoke — the  incense  of  profitable 
labor  to  a favoring  sky  curling  over  crowded  cities,  pros- 
perous towns  and  smiling  hamlets.  Widen  the  horizon  of 
your  view,  and  embrace  in  its  broad  scope  all  the  English- 
speaking  peoples  of  to-day.  Compare  our  republic  and 
these  peoples  with  the  rivals  of  1743 — the  French  and  the 
Spaniard.  This  is  what  no  one  foresaw  on  that  spring  day 
in  1743,  but  this  is  what  Jefferson  did  afterward  foresee  and 
labored  to  produce. 

More  than  any  man  in  his  day  he  foresaw  the  future  and 
what  was  necessary  to  accomplish  this  result.  To  his  far- 
seeing  prescience  the  destiny  was  clear — to  his  equal  states- 
manship the  means  were  also  clear.  And  so  great  was  he 
that  what  we  see  was  not  the  end  he  foresaw ; we  are  yet 
but  at  the  threshold  of  the  beginning;  we  are  yet  but  at 


52 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


the  base  of  the  mighty  'fabric  Whose  corner-stone  he  helped 
to  lay.  Like  him  and  his  compeers,  we  are  only  builders. 

The  principles  by  whose  subtle  and  pervasive  power 
these  mighty  changes  have  been  wrought  were  not  the  cre- 
ation of  Jefferson ; they  were  inwrought  into  our  nature  as 
men.  But  he  apprehended  them  with  absolute  clearness; 
lie  loved  them  with  ardent  devotion ; he  trusted  in  them  with 
implicit  faith ; he  gave  his  life  to  make  them  regnant.  All 
the  circumstances,  physical,  mental  and  moral,  surrounding 
that  generation  were  divinely  favorable,  even  though  ap- 
parently so  adverse.  The  new  country,  the  separating 
oceans,  the  diverse  colonies,  the  absence  of  all  neighbors, 
rendered  such  an  experiment  made  by  such  people  on  such 
principles  easy  of  success.  But  they  were  wise  and  great 
men  who  could  for  such  principles  make  such  sacrifices, 
and  for  such  an  end  adopt  such  means.  These  principles 
they  classified  as  universal,  founded  in  the  nature  of  man 
as  man ; as  historic,  settled  by  the  bloody  contests  of  all 
the  past ; as  governmental,  applying  to  the  peculiar  situation 
of  themselves  and  their  posterity.  The  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  universal  application  found  their  Jeffersonian  form 
in  the  preamble  and  first  paragraph  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  in  words  we  cannot  repeat  too  often  nor 
meditate  on  too  much.  These  principles  are  founded  on 
the  laws  of  nature  and  nature’s  God,  they  find  their  root 
in  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
and  from  this  root  spring  all  that  has  made  this  wondrous 
growth  possible.  All  men  are  created  equal,  and  are  en- 
dowed by  their  Creator  with  inalienable  rights.  This  is  the 
basis  of  all  political  truth.  The  next  step  is  that  “to  secure 
these  rights  governments  are  instituted  among  men but 
these  governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed.  This  is  the  basis  of  all  governmental 
forms  and  policy.  Freemen,  created  by  God,  with  inalien- 
able rights,  instituting  a government  to  secure  these  rights, 


“manifest  destiny.”  53 

and  basing  all  its  powers  on  their  consent,  was  the  only  con- 
ception of  a true  government  that  our  fathers  had.  But  to 
these  universal  truths  were  added  the  historic  rights  which 
our  fathers  had  inherited  as  Englishmen,  or  been  granted 
as  American  colonists.  These  gave  Parliamentary  repre- 
sentation, laws  enacted  in  an  orderly  method  by  representa- 
tives of  the  people  properly  chosen — the  indissoluble  con- 
nection between  taxation  and  representation,  liberty  of  per- 
son, security  of  property,  voice  in  the  government. 

Jefferson  saw  clearer,  if  not  sooner  than  his  compeers, 
that  new  life  and  greater  scope  must  be  given  to  these  prin- 
ciples. He  was  in  its  loftiest  sense  a Democrat;  he  loved, 
he  trusted  the  people;  he  loved  his  race;  he  was  indeed  a 
man,  and  there  was  nothing  human  that  was  foreign  to 
him.  He  deified  man  as  man,  and  despised  and  feared  all 
that  could  create  classes  or  ranks.  Man  as  man  was  free 
and  capable  of  self-government — was  the  postulate  of  all 
his  thinking.  This  was  the  starting  point  of  all  his  medi- 
tations. All  men  ought  to  be  free,  all  men  shall  be  free, 
all  men  will  be  free  was  the  conviction,  the  resolve,  the 
hope  of  his  life.  His  part  was  to  assist  in  making  America 
free.  This  was  duplex — one  part  was  to  secure  such  a gov- 
ernment as  would  protect  and  maintain  freedom ; the  other 
was  to  establish  a policy  that  would  in  the  end  embrace  the 
continent.  This  was  a sublime  conception,  wrought  out 
in  its  mighty  details  with  a wisdom,  a courage,  a patience 
never  surpassed,  and  by  successive  generations  of  men,  who 
have  builded  perhaps  wiser  than  they  knew.  The  form  of 
government  actually  adopted  was  not  precisely  in  all  its 
details  what  he  preferred,  but  the  pervasive  power  residing 
in  its  principles  was  such  that,  with  his  guidance,  it  wrought 
the  desired  result.  It  became,  it  is,  it  will  remain,  if  his 
disciples  are  put  in  power,  “an  indissoluble  union  of  inde- 
structible States,”  a republic  of  sovereign  States,  one  as  to 
all  the  world  and  all  federal  concern;  but  as  to  all  State 


54 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


I 

matters,  jealously  many;  each  in  its  sphere,  and  to  the  ex- 
tent of  its  powers,  sovereign  and  independent.  The  con- 
stitution, and  not  the  discretion  of  those  in  power  is  at  once 
the  warrant  and  the  measure  of  the  powers  to  be  exercised 
there  residing  nowhere  any  power,  except  as  therein 
granted.  With  such  a government,  expansion  was  possi- 
ble; neither  the  number  nor  the  size  of  the  States,  nor  the 
extent  of  population  or  territory,  need  cause  alarm  or 
change.  Logically — philosophically,  a hundred  sovereign 
States  with  full  populations  could  be  united  under  such  a 
constitution,  based  on  such  underlying  principles.  When- 
ever their  joint  power  was  sufficient  to  protect  from  exter- 
nal danger,  there  was  no  necessary  limit  to  expansion. 
And  with  such  principles  separation,  if  it  ever  came,  might 
be  only  temporary.  If  men  are  free — if  governments  are 
founded  on  the  consent  of  the  governed;  if  local  govern- 
ments are  sovereign,  and  federal  governments  can  be  lim- 
ited by  written  compacts  or  constitutions,  then  the  possi- 
bility of  expansion  and  modification  of  mere  forms  becomes 
infinite.  If  the  object  of  all  governments  is  to  protect  -these 
inalienable  rights,  and  freemen  can  secure  that  protection 
by  a union  of  States  under  one  compact,  then  there  is  no 
permanent  failure  of  free  government  possible  except  on 
the  single  hypothesis  that  man  is  incapable  of  self-govern- 
ment. 

Jefferson  rejected  this  hypothesis  for  himself,  his  race 
and  his  country,  accepted  with  a loving,  trusting  faith  in 
mankind  the  verity  of  his  hopes.  But  there  must  be  room 
for  development  of  such  principles,  and  he  held  the  conti- 
nent to  be  ours.  This  was  the  cherished  hope  of  many  of 
that  day.  Neither  mountain  nor  river,  nor  savage,  nor 
Frenchman,  nor  Spaniard,  nor  wilderness  was  permitted  to 
obstruct  this  glorious  view  of  a homogeneous  and  ocean- 
bound  republic  of  freemen.  They  were  pioneers  of  a new 
and  magnificent  world.  The  ancient  kingdoms  were  to  be 


“manifest  destiny.”  55 

surpassed  by  this  new  people  for  whom  God  had  preserved 
this  virgin  and  enchanting  continent.  The  frozen  North 
and  the  tropic  South  were  to  prosper  under  one  flag — the 
flag  of  the  free.  This  new  empire  was  to  dictate  law  to  the 
world,  restore  peace  to  the  earth,  give  liberty  to  the  op- 
pressed. Here  were  ample  homes  to  be  found  for  the  poor 
and  plenty  for  the  starveling.  The  new  era  of  a nobler 
brotherhood,  the  sunlit  dawn  of  a new  day  had  begun,  and 
mankind  was  to  find  ampler  room  and  fresher  fields  for 
higher  development.  To  Jefferson  these  dreams  were 
actualities,  and  with  a minuteness  of  details  and  a practical 
statesmanship  that  were  equal  to  the  prophetic  conception, 
he  secured  religious  freedom  by  the  abolishment  of  a State 
religion;  he  destroyed  an  aristocracy  based  on  wealth  by 
abolishing  the  law  of  entails  and  primogeniture;  he  made 
naturalization  easy;  he  dedicated  the  Northwest  to  a com- 
mon country  and  to  become  free  States ; he  ordered  George 
Rogers  Clark  to  seize  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  River; 
lie  aided  the  pioneers  of  Kentucky  to  form  a new  State  on 
the  basis  of  universal  suffrage,  and  equal  representation 
based  on  numbers,  and  tried  with  almost  superhuman  pow- 
ers to  abolish  slavery.  By  these  wonderful  achievements, 
the  new  republic  began  its  career  with  the  freedom  of  re- 
ligion, freedom  from  possible  aristocracy  and  the  certainty 
of  the  addition  of  new  States.  But  he  fell  that  he  wanted 
no  neighbors,  and  so  came  about  the  purchase  of  Louis- 
iana, which  will  be  held  to  be  an  achievement  in  wisdom 
and  statesmanship  only  surpassed  by  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  It  gave  us  more  than  that  magnificent  ter- 
ritory— it  settled  our  national  policy.  He  said:  “Objec- 

tions are  raising  to  the  eastward  against  the  vast  extent  of 
our  boundaries,  and  propositions  are  made  to  exchange 
Louisiana  or  a part  of  it  for  the  Floridas.  But  as  I have 
said,  we  will  get  the  Floridas  without,”  and  this  settled 
policy  was  to  carve  new  States  out  of  this  far-reaching  ter- 


56 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


ritory,  or,  as  he  put  it,  “when  we  shall  be  full  on  this  side 
we  may  lay  off  a range  of  States  on  the  western  bank  from 
the  head  to  the  mouth,  and  so  range  after  range,  advancing 
as  we  multiply,”  and  under  this  policy  we  have  acquired 
the  Floridas  and  Texas,  and  to  the  Pacific  shore. 

Have  we  reached  the  end?  Has  the  future  no  con- 
quests for  freedom?  Must  we  live  in  the  past,  and  content 
ourselves  with  recounting  the  triumphs  of  the  fathers? 
Shall  our  sons  have  no  laurels  of  their  own  winning  to 
wear?  When  another  hundred  and  forty  years  have  passed 
away,  and  in  some  great  city  which,  like  this,  has  sprung 
up  as  if  by  magic  into  power  and  wealth,  in  some  noble 
hall,  amid  another  assemblage  of  notables,  of  what  will  that 
American  who  responds  to  another  similar  toast  have  to 
boast?  What  can  limit  the  horizon  of  our  hopes?  What 
may  we  not  expect?  As  we  recall  all  the  glories  of  the 
past,  as  we  exult  in  the  prosperity  of  the  present,  why 
should  we  doubt  the  possibilities  of  the  future?  It  has  in 
store  its  own  conquests — conquests  by  steam  and  commerce 
and  inevitable  fate. 

My  brethren,  I have  heard  much  of  a revival  of  the  faith 
of  our  fathers,  of  going  back  to  the  days  of  the  fathers.  I 
pray  for  the  spirit  of  the  fathers.  Democrats,  our  fathers 
were  progressive ; they  believed  in  the  people,  they  trusted 
the  people,  they  were  the  true  radicals.  We  must  raise  once 
more  the  standard  of  the  Democracy  that  was  once  full  of 
hope,  candor  and  courage,  for  it  had  no  secrets,  it  had  no 
improper  object,  and  it  had  the  people  at  its  back.  I pray 
for  the  revival  of  that  courage — a courage  that  shot  de- 
serters, and  made  no  compromise  of  principle  for  expedi- 
ency ; for  a revival  of  that  candor  that  kept  nothing  hid  be- 
cause it  felt  that  there  was  nothing  of  which  it  needed  to  be 
ashamed.  It  was  a simple  creed  our  fathers  held,  a federal 
government  supreme  in  its  sphere  of  limited  and  delegated 
powers;  State  governments  sovereign  in  their  sphere;  an 


“manifest  destiny.” 


57 


impartial  and  just  distribution  of  the  public  burdens,  so  im- 
posed 'that  each  paid  his  share,  and  only  his  share,  of  the 
public  tax;  no  imposition  of  taxes  for  any  purpose  other 
than  a public  and  governmental  object;  a strict  economy 
in  the  public  service  ; a rigorous  responsibility  in  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  public  moneys;  a sound  currency  based 
on  coin;  careful  regard  for  all  contracts,  and  scrupulous 
performance  thereof  according  to  their  tenor;  implicit 
obedience  to  the  law ; absolute  protection  at  home  and 
abroad  of  every  American  citizen;  the  freedom  of  person, 
of  speech,  and  of  franchise ; the  purity  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise, and  prompt  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  people  as 
expressed  at  the  polls ; cordial  relations  with  all  the  world 
on  the  recognized  condition  that  no  foreign  power  should 
have  a new  foothold  on  this  continent ; warm  sympathy  for 
all  people  not  so  free  as  we ; an  earnest  welcome  to  all  who 
would  cast  their  lot  with  us ; absolute  faith  in  the  honesty, 
courage  and  intelligence  of  the  people,  and  in  the  growth, 
wisdom  and  prosperity  of  their  country.  Let  this  be  our 
creed  to-day,  and  we  will  achieve  for  our  posterity  what 
the  fathers  did  for  us.  Our  destiny  is  certain.  We  may 
be  the  leaders  in  the  events  which  will  mark  our  history, 
or  others  may  lead  us.  To  lead  we  must  have  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people,  and  must  deserve  that  confidence. 
Whenever  they  believe  that  the  Democratic  party  do  be- 
lieve in  that  creed,  and  will  in  good  faith  administer  the 
government  in  the  spirit  of  Jefferson  and  Jackson — in  the 
spirit  of  economy  and  progress,  of  courage  and  fidelity — 
we  will  be  given  power.  The  people  know  their  power, 
and  our  country’s  destiny.  They  will  follow  where  men 
lead.  There  is  no  antagonism  between  the  sections.  Jus- 
tice to  each  and  all  is  possible,  and  I plead  to-night  for  a 
renewal  of  that  spirit  which  knew  the  interests  and  rights 
of  each  State  and  section  and  gave  to  all  equal  protection. 
Inscribe  on  our  banners  to-night  equal  and  exact  justice 


58 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


to  every  citizen  and  every  State;  a just  distribution  of  tihe 
public  burden;  faithful  fulfillment  of  every  obligation;  strict 
economy  in  the  public  service;  trust  in  the  future — one 
flag,  one  country,  one  destiny — and  we  can  repeat,  in  the 
hopeful  words  of  him  whose  natal  day  we  celebrate : “We 
should  have  such  an  empire  for  liberty  as  she  has  never 
surveyed  since  this  creation ; and  I am  persuaded  no  consti- 
tution was  ever  before  so  well  calculated  as  ours  for  exten- 
sive empire  and  self-government.” 


“THE  GREAT  NORTHWEST.” 

Response  by  Gen.  J.  C.  Black,  of  Illinois,  at  a banquet  of  the  Iroquois  Club,  at 
Chicago,  April  13,  1883. 

Mr.  Chairman : In  his  absence  you  have  requested  me 

to  bend  the  bow  of  Ulysses,  and  if  I prove  unequal  to  the 
task,  you  will  have  to  remember  it  is  because  you  have  this 
evening  violated  established  Democratic  principles  of  equal- 
ity, and  placed  me,  without  warning,  in  the  company  of 
acute  critics,  to  follow  and  to  be  followed  by  splendid  orators 
of  silver  tongues  and  melodious  speech,  whose  every  word 
has  had  the  deliberation  of  thought,  the  polish  of  premedi- 
tation and  the  fire  of  ambition,  and  who  nobly  have  spoken 
before  you  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  great 
Democratic  doctrines.  I have  had  no  time  for  this  theme 
to-night,  because  I havs  listened  with  charmed  senses  to 
the  splendid  oratory  which  has  poured  upon  us. 

I would  have  been  more  than  mortal  if  the  eloquent 
voices  of  the  Northwest  had  not  won  me  from  all  selfish 
considerations  to  listen  while  they  spoke  the  immortal 
truths  upon  which  the  great  Democratic  party  at  one  time 
held,  and  will  again  possess  the  political  allegiance  of  the 
great  Northwest. 

The  theme  itself  must  furnish  me  inspiration,  or  I must 
fail ; and  when  I think  of  the  fact  that  it  has  been  scarcely  a 
hundred  years  since  the  moccasined  foot  of  the  pioneer 


"the  great  northwest."  59 

broke  the  long  silence  of  this  region  which  geologists  tell 
us  is  the  oldest,  and  which  history  shows  has  been  reserved 
by  fortune  for  liberty;  when  I think  of  that  short  recorded 
career,  and  then  see  around  me  the  glorious  physical,  ma- 
terial, and  moral  results,  I stand  surprised,  impressed,  with 
the  majesty  of  the  subject.  (Applause.)  It  has  not  been  a 
hundred  years  since  the  war-whoop  of  the  original  Iroquois 
died  away,  and  to-night  their  gentle  and  civilized 
echoes  sound  from  the  center  of  the  great  metropolis  of  the 
Northwest,  whose  ten  thousand  furnaces  burn  where  the 
wigwam’s  solitary  embers  were.  (Applause.) 

This  day,  to-night,  and  in  the  presence  of  this  assembly, 
is  a fitting  time  for  retrospection  as  well  as  for  prophecy. 
For  he  whose  anniversary  this  is,  was  the  man  who,  by  his 
diplomacy,  won  the  broad  west  from  foreign  control,  and 
by  his  statesmanship  dedicated  it  'forever  to  the  highest  ex- 
periment of  mankind.  (Applause.)  The  Northwest  is 
great  in  many  particulars ; greatest  of  all,  gentlemen,  in  this, 
that  while  the  clank  of  chains  has  been  heard  in  every  other 
land,  while  men  have  in  all  other  regions  been  obliged  to 
struggle  against  the  spirit  of  caste  or  the  power  of  tradition, 
this  land,  from  the  very  first  hour  in  its  civilized  history, 
until  now,  has  been  dedicated  forever  to  freedom,  and  Jef- 
ferson’s was  the  hand  which  wrote  on  its  portals  that  slavery 
and  involuntary  servitude,  save  for  crime,  should  never  be 
tolerated  here.  (Applause.)  Before  that,  as  Col.  Breckin- 
ridge has  told  you,  the  prophetic  soul  of  Jefferson  studied 
this  vast  area,  and  assigned  here  the  seat  of  empire,  and 
sent  scouts  and  pioneers  to  keep  and  hold  it  against  all 
comers.  When  the  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clark  wound 
its  way  through  the  Alleghanies  and  penetrated  these  for- 
ests, and  came  down  and  across  these  broad  rivers,  and  over 
these  mighty  prairies,  its  men  were  the  Democratic  pioneers, 
establishing  here  his  place  for  the  freedom  of  mankind. 
From  that  time  until  now,  with  varying  fortune  the  senti- 


6o 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


merits  which  Jefferson  inculcated,  and  which  he  wrote 
preparatory  to  the  ordinance  creating  the  Territory  of  the 
Northwest,  and  ceding  it  to  the  Union,  have  been  promi- 
nent in  all  its  enactments ; have  been  established  in  all  of  its 
constitutions ; and  the  result  has  been  all  that  he  ever  hoped 
for.  Free  men  in  all  sections  of  the  world  have  turned  to 
this  land  as  the  worshiper  turned  his  eyes  to  the  Mecca  of 
his  faith.  The  men  who  toiled  in  Europe,  or  who  came 
from  the  plains  of  far-away  Asia,  or  slipped  the  lash  of  an 
ignoble  servitude  at  home  or  abroad,  sought  out  this  region 
because,  of  all  the  republics,  it  was  the  land  of  liberty ; be- 
cause the  traditions  of  the  people,  as  far  as  their  few  years 
could  make  tradition,  were,  that  every  institution  of  govern- 
ment and  of  law  should  be  made  and  maintained  solely  as 
it  was  beneficent  to  the  people;  because  here  was  no  re- 
motest taint  of  feudatory  wrong;  because  it  was  established 
here  in  our  fundamental  law  that  the  people  should  own 
their  soil.  Freedom  cannot  live  in  a country  where  the 
people  do  not  own  the  land.  A simple  truth,  and  yet  the 
struggles  of  six  thousand  years  were  needed  for  its  estab- 
lishment. The  root  of  the  great  tree  of  liberty  must  strike 
down  through  the  possessions  of  those  who  are  to  be  its 
supporters.  (Applause.)  It  must  grow  upon  free  land;  it 
must  grow  upon  land  that  can  be  aliened,  that  cannot  be 
transmitted  by  forced  inheritance  or  entail,  that  can  be 
moved  as  any  other  property  can  be  moved  and  as  freely. 
(Applause.)  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  the  house  of  Burgesses 
of  Virginia,  began  the  long  struggle  against  primogeniture 
and  entail,  which  had  created  the  grand  estates  of  Europe ; 
and  he  assisted  in  establishing  that  condition  of  freedom 
of  the  soil  in  all  the  Northwest  which  now  exists ; he  did 
more  than  that;  and  the  morning  of  the  Northwest  was 
when  he  and  his  fellow  Virginians  handed  this  territory 
over  to  the  republic  and  to  humanity,  and  said,  that  in 
addition  to  the  ownership  of  the  soil,  the  citizens  had  a 


“the  great  northwest."  6i 

greater  right,  and  that  was  the  ownership  and  control  of 
their  own  government;  and  I say,  Mr.  President,  that  no 
people,  who  own  their  soil  and  may  freely  transfer  it  and 
control  their  constitution  and  their  laws,  and  every  creature 
under  them,  need  fear  despotism  or  the  loss  of  their  liber- 
ties, and  without  these  united,  the  greatest  prosperity  itself 
becomes  simply  the  source  for  a people’s  oppression. 
(Applause.) 

^The  pioneers  who  entered  upon  and  subdued  these 
regions  of  freedom  and  of  liberty  came  without  the  aid  of 
government.  They  found  the  pathway  of  empire  open ; 
they  occupied  it  and  established  their  own  State  systems, 
making  them  free  to  all  men  as  they  had  found  the  virgin 
territory;  barring  out  every  phase  of  oppression  as  far  as 
they  could;  determined  only  that  they  would  leave  the 
country  as  they  had  found  it,  a heritage  of  liberty. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  all  the  States  of  the  great 
Northwest  were  admitted  under  Democratic  administration 
and  were  Democratic  in  their  origin.  Every  constitution 
of  every  State,  carved  from  the  Territory  of  the  Northwest, 
was  Democratic  handiwork;  each  member  thereof  became 
a State  under  Democratic  control  and  Democratic  admin- 
istration, and  they  retained  their  Democratic  dominance, 
and  their  Democratic  principles  in  the  National  Govern- 
ment, and  in  the  control  of  the  State  institutions,  until  the 
fearful  passions  of  civil  war  swept  men  from  their 
allegiance. 

There  was,  in  addition  to  these  doctrines  of  individual 
liberty,  of  local  government  and  of  the  right  of  ownership 
in  the  soil,  the  fourth  doctrine  inculcated  by  Jefferson  and 
by  the  great  Democratic  party;  and  that  was,  that  the 
Union  had  a right  to  perpetuate  itself,  and  so  when  the 
time  came  that  evil  counsel  rent  a great  party,  it  was  found 
that  the  evil  counselors  were  not  able  to  carry  the  party 
with  them,  and  here  in  the  Northwest,  the  Democracy  (if 


62 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


the  great  gentlemen  who  preceded  me  will  allow  me  to 
say  so),  the  Democracy  of  twenty  years  ago,  were,  as  they 
are  now,  faithful  to  the  Federal  Union,  faithful  with  purse, 
with  blood,  with  their  sons,  with  their  whole  fortunes,  and 
with  their  lives ; and  the  consequence  was,  that  when  -the 
work  of  the  whole  people  had  been  done,  and  the  Nation 
had  been  re-established  and  restored,  the  honor  was  not  to 
any  party  alone,  but  it  was  to  all  parties,  and  to  all  men  in 
the  great  Northwest.  (Applause.) 

Fellow  citizens,  we  stand  in  the  center  of  an  empire; 
the  glorious  empire  of  liberty  and  law ; an  empire  of  which 
this  is  the  capital,  and  where  is  established  the  oracle  of  the 
thought  of  the  Northwest ; no  voice  is  more  potential  in 
establishing  the  destinies  of  this  great  future-growing  people, 
than  the  voice  of  the  Democracy,  as  you  have  assembled  it 
in  annual  council  at  this  place. 

And  when  Democracy  shall  return  to  power,  as  it  has 
in  four  of  the  five  great  States,  and  taken  possession  again 
in  the  State  of  Illinois  and  re-established  its  dominion  over 
the  land  of  its  youth  and  glory,  honor  will  be  given  to  the 
efforts  of  this  club  for  the  restoration  of  Democracy  to  its 
original  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the  Great 
Northwest. 

Here,  under  the  teaching  of  this  man  Jefferson,  of  -those 
that  he  inspired  and  were  his  disciples,  and  over  all  this 
territory,  the  national  Democracy  established  the  system  of 
free  schools,  and  endowed  them  liberally,  so  that  to-day  the 
silver  hand  of  learning  opens  the  door  of  the  common 
schools  to  every  child  of  the  republic,  no  odds  how  poor  its 
parentage  or  how  despised  its  religion.  The  great  National 
Democracy  established  the  doctrine  that  here  should  be 
actual,  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  to-day,  as  a conse- 
quence, the  worshiper  of  any  faith  may  build  his  shrine,  and 
build  it  protected  by  the  administration  of  Democratic  law, 
and  traditions  of  Democratic  doctrine,  and  to-day,  whether 


"the  great  northwest.”  63 

he  be  worshiper  of  Buddha,  Whether  he  be  a follower  of  the 
faith  of  some  Asiatic  fanaticism,  or  whether  he  worships 
at  the  shrine  of  the  pure  religion  of  our  time,  here  is  equal 
protection  to  all ; and  in  that  is  found  the  best  development 
oif  religious  thought.  And  that  has  been  a part  of  the 
heritage  which  the  great  Northwest  received  from  this  man 
Jefferson,  and  has  helped  to  transmit  to  posterity. 

I can  think  of  a great  Nrrthwest  of  which  this  is  but 
the  foundation.  Behold  the  highways  and  palaces  of  com- 
merce, the  broad  fields  of  agriculture,  the  deep  down  wealth 
of  mines.  The  voices  of  your  orators  to-night  will  sound 
to-morrow  morning  from  this  great  center  in  the  ears  of 
fifty  million  people.  The  words  of  wisdom  or  of  folly  that 
you  speak  will  from  the  heart  of  this  great  Northwest  be 
wired  to  all  the  hamlets  and  homes  of  the  land,  and  it  will 
be  asked  by  men,  "How  is  the  great  Northwest  going  in 
the  political  struggle  that  is  now  impending,  and  which 
we  are  about  to  enter  upon?”  Will  it  go  Democratic,  or 
will  it  follow  some  ancient  hate,  and  feed  fat  some  bloody 
grudge  and  go  against  Democracy?  That  depends,  gentle- 
men, how  closely  the  Democratic  party  shall  adhere  to  the 
traditions  of  its  Democratic  founder,  established  by  him  in 
the  greatest  document  that  has  ever  been  prepared  by  man ; 
a document  which  I believe  with  all  my  heart  is  the  supreme 
and  greatest  utterance  of  uninspired  mind ; a document 
which  drew  into  its  composition  all  the  experience  of  man- 
kind ; a document  which  was  touched  by  the  hand  of  genius 
and  animated  by  the  life  love  of  humanity,  and  which  holds 
in  undying  characters  the  great  charter  of  humanity ; that 
one  man  is  created  the  equal  of  every  other  man ; that  his 
government  and  every  institution  thereof  and  thereunder 
endures  solely  for  him  and  for  his  uses  and  prosperity,  and 
is  subject  to  be  altered  and  changed  and  modified  at  his 
will,  in  order  that  it  may  grow  with  his  growth  and 
strengthen  with  his  strength. 


64 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


The  future  of  the  Northwest  is  something  that  the 
dreamer  himself  may  not  predict.  Where  fifteen  millions 
are  now,  fifty  millions  will  stand,  if  the  doctrines  that 
brought  fifteen  millions  here  and  that  opened  the  doors  of 
the  wilderness  are  maintained  in  their  purity.  Other  lands 
have  had  their  swarming  myriads  and  the  only  monuments 
left  of  them  are  graven  upon  the  marble,  granite  or  brass ; 
they  are  buried  by  sands ; they  are  obliterated  by  the  tooth 
of  time ; but  the  monuments  that  this  people  build  to-day 
in  their  institutions,  if  they  are  faithful  to  their  Democratic 
ancestral  doctrines,  will  endure  to  the  last,  firm  and 
immutable. 


“TYPICAL  MEN.” 

Response  by  Rev.  Wm.  E.  Park,  at  a dinner  of  the  Republican  Club  of  New 
York,  February  15,  1896. 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  of  the  Republican  Club : As 
a speaker  this  evening  I feel  myself  to  be  under  some 
special  disadvantages.  I have  not  the  environment  which 
the  rest  of  you  have.  I have  come  from  the  section  of  the 
country  that  may  be  considered  more  rural.  I do  not  often 
have  an  opportunity  to  listen  to  such  speakers  as  you  have 
listened  to  to-night,  and  I feel  a little  bewildered  under  such 
intoxicating  influences,  an  influence  to  which  you  are  ac- 
customed (laughter)  ; but  to  me  it  is  very  new.  And  if  in 
my  mind  there  should  be  any  element  of  confusion  from 
my  situation,  let  me  quote  two  lines  of  a poem  that  I saw 
in  the  New  York  Tribune  after  a dinner  when  a man  came 
home  in  a confused  state  of  mind ; his  wife  accused  him  of 
something  that  he  was  not  guilty  of  and  he  replied : 

“You  think  me  with  whisky 
My  brain  is  bedewed, 

You  mistake  me,  my  dear, 

I am  Chauncey  Depewed.” 

And,  being  a minister,  I look  out  for  Scriptural  ful- 


"typical  men/'  65 

fillment.  Why,  the  psalms  are  getting  realistic  to  me.  The 
last  speaker  personified  those  illustrious  words  O'f  David, 
“Lo,  I come”  (laughter),  and  I feel  myself  under  some  em- 
barrassment and  have  something  the  sensation  of  a cat  in 
a strange  garret  when  I,  a poor  minister,  am  placed  in  con- 
tact with  such  statesmen,  men  whose  names  go  all  over  the 
country  and  whose  pictures  are  seen  in  every  edition  of  the 
New  York  dailies.  For  there  is  no  mistake  about  it,  a 
minister  is  most  shamefully  misunderstood  at  times.  I 
knew  a pious  mother  that  was  explaining  to  her  little  girl 
the  condition  of  the  Holy  Martyrs  thrown  to  the  lions.  She 
was  misunderstood.  Said  the  little  one : “Ma,  that  little 
lion  out  in  the  back  corner  isn’t  getting  nothing.” 
( Laughter. ) 

And  then  again  a minister  is  misunderstood  most  shame- 
fully in  his  professional  labors.  I knew  a minister  at  one 
time  who  exchanged  with  one  of  his  clerical  brethren,  and 
during  the  most  powerful  passages  of  his  eloquence  he  saw 
a woman  dressed  in  black  who  was  soaking  her  handker- 
chief with  her  tears.  He  learned  her  name  and  he  inquired 
her  residence ; he  called  upon  her  the  next  day,  desiring  to 
apply  the  sermon  to  her  mind,  but  with  a sort  of  secret 
squint  of  the  eye,  hoping  that  he  might  get  a compliment 
for  his  discourse.  “I  called,  madam,”  said  he,  "because  I 
saw  you  were  deeply  affected  during  my  discourse  yester- 
day afternoon.”  "I  was,  I was,  very  much.”  "And  I called 
to  see  if  it  could  not  be  applied  to  your  condition ; and  if  I 
could  not  follow  up  the  sermon  by  some  practical  re- 
marks.” "You  are  so  kind,  sir,  I will  take  you  into  my  con- 
fidence. I am  a widow  woman,  as  you  see  by  my  dress 
and  manner ; but  I had  a cow  that  I thought  the  world  of ; 
and  I spent  all  my  time  a-feeding  that  cow  and  a-stroking 
that  cow  and  a-patting  that  cow  and  talking  to  that  cow, 
and  it  really  begins  to  take  the  place  of  my  husband 
(laughter).  And  the  cow’s  name  is  Nellie,  and  day  before 


66 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


yesterday  1 couldn’t  find  Nellie  anywhere,  and  I went  to 
the  barn,  walked  in  and  she  was  not  there,  and  I says, 
‘Where  is  Nellie?’  and  I remembered  there  was  a pond  and 
quagmire  around  the  house,  and  I went  there  and  my  worst 
fears  were  more  than  realized,  there  was  Nellie  going  down 
and  down,  and  I couldn’t  see  anything  but  her  horns  and 
the  line  of  her  back  and  her  tail,  and  said  I,  ‘Farewell, 
Nellie,  farewell,  Nellie,’  and  she  raised  her  head  out  of  the 
mud  and  gave  one  last  bellow  of  farewell  to  me,  and  your 
voice  yesterday  afternoon  did  sound  so  much  like  it” 
(laughter  and  renewed  laughter),  and  she  broke  down  again 
and  tears  began  to  roll  down  her  cheeks.  But  now,  gentle- 
men of  the  club,  let  us  get  at  business.  (Laughter.) 

I am  to  speak  on  the  subject  of  typical  men,  and  I want 
to  know  if  you  cannot  join  me  in  doing  a little  historic 
work.  It  may  take  a little  thought ; but  what  is  anything 
worth  without  thinking  or  what  conclusion  is  worth  any- 
thing which  we  arrive  at  without  some  exertion.  I hold 
that  ideas  are  eternal;  but  men  change,  and  ideas  are 
beautiful  only  as  they  incarnate  themselves  in  men  and 
representative  men.  The  interest  of  an  age  is  sometimes 
centered  in  a single  man,  like  Cicero  or  Charlemagne,  and 
we  behold  a planet.  Sometimes  it  incarnates  itself  in  a set 
of  men  and  we  behold  a brilliancy  or  a set  of  asteroids ; 
sometimes  the  genius  of  the  age  incarnates  itself  in  many 
divine  men  moving  together,  and  we  behold  the  luminous 
galaxy  like  the  Nebulae,  which  is  the  result  of  the  net 
returns  by  stars  and  planets  by  the  thousand.  I am  to 
speak  of  some  of  the  representative  men  of  the  ages  at 
critical  periods  in  the  history  of  the  world.  I suppose  that 
about  the  middle  of  the  first  century  the  Roman  power 
had  incarnated  in  itself  the  whole  civilized  world.  Rome 
was  victorious  by  sea  and  land,  her  helmets  glittered  on 
every  shore,  her  lances  and  swords  sparkled  in  every  sun 
then  shining  on  the  earth.  All  opposition  to  the  Roman 


"typical  men.”  67 

power  had  died  away  from  the  mind  of  sensible  and  prac- 
tical men,  opposition  to  Rome  was  only  the  part  of  the  fool, 
the  crank,  the  fanatic.  The  institution  of  slavery  was  at 
that  time  considered  to  be  reasonable  and  thoroughly  wise. 
It  was  the  method  by  which  the  strong  men  could  oppress 
the  weak,  and  it  was  considered  to  be  the  best  ordinary  and 
established  method  of  making  use  of  the  lower  orders  of 
society.  The  whole  idea  was  that  the  capitalist  should  own 
the  stock  and  the  labor,  and  one  had  no  more  scruple  in 
dealing  in  his  fellow  men  commercially  than  he  would  in 
handling  goods  or  any  regular  product  of  commerce.  The 
idea  of  the  world  was  unbroken,  but  on  one  day  there  ap- 
peared on  the  summit  of  Mars  Hill  an  old  man,  of  bodily 
presence  weak,  and  of  speech  contemptible ; and  Athens,  the 
old  historic  rock  from  which  the  Persians  had  hurled  their 
missiles,  which  they  expected  to  result  in  the  enslavement  of 
Greece,  and  five  hundred  years  before  a man  stood  around 
the  base  of  Mars  Hill,  and  said  those  extraordinary  words, 
"That  God  hath  created  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men.” 
Perhaps,  being  a minister,  I think  unduly  of  this  passage, 
but,  after  some  study  of  history,  I am  inclined  to  attribute  to 
it  a stupendous  political  importance.  It  was  the  first  codified 
statement  of  the  equality  of  man,  an  idea  which  has  been 
foreshadowed  and  implied  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
but  now  it  was  distinctively  formulated  by  the  great  Apostle. 
A seed  of  thought  was  planted  in  the  mind  of  the  world,  a 
seed  of  thought  that  never  died,  because  I shall  endeavor 
to  show  it  was  in  an  American  President  the  fulfillment  of 
the  direction  of  the  Apostle  found  final  and  practical  realiza- 
tion. Twelve  centuries  roll  away.  Mighty  changes  have 
occurred.  The  vast  and  colossal  Roman  Empire  fell, 
crumbled  into  fragments.  She  had  been  dispelled  by  the 
milder — milder  but  stronger — forces  of  granite,  for  the 
Roman  Empire  was,  after  all,  of  the  earth  earthy. 

It  was  material,  and  material  things  live  because  the 


68 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


world  cannot  get  on  without  them.  The  pyramids  of  Egypt 
are  left  to  grow  old  and  hoary,  and  the  monuments  of  Egypt 
are  as  a fossil  on  the  Nile,  for  men  can  easily  do  without 
them.  They  cannot  do  without  moral  truth.  They  cannot 
do  without  the  eternal  idea.  But  when  the  vast  Roman 
Empire  rolled  down,  shivered  into  fragments,  each  frag- 
ment became  a little  kingdom  in  itself,  and  Rome  broke 
into  feudalism.  Men  were  too  busy  with  their  feuds  to  see 
where  the  real  interest  of  the  world  lay,  and  the  wise  men 
of  the  time  did  not  turn  their  eyes  to  the  little  colonies  in 
tne  northeast  corner  of  Europe,  where  were  gathering  the 
influence  that  would  result  in  another  colossal  dominion. 
Then  I claim  that  it  is  said  that  God  uses  the  talents  and 
ability  of  men  to  still  greater  degree,  and  it  is  interesting  to 
see  how  the  world  has  been  benefited  by  certain  co-ordi- 
nations and  mutual  relations,  of  the  weakness  and  strength. 
The  Norman  King,  Plantagenet  Kings  from  the  time  of 
William  the  Conqueror,  had  been  men  of  consummate 
ability;  the  Kings  of  France  had  been  slothful,  imbecile  and 
cowardly,  but  one  King  of  France,  Philip  Augustus,  was  a 
consummately  supremely  able  man,  and  the  Roman 
Pontiff,  Innocent  III.,  was  at  that  time  the  most  capable 
and  the  most  determined  man  among  public  characters  then 
living.  It  occurred  to  the  Barons  of  England,  who  for  some 
time  had  been  getting  and  growing  stronger,  that  with  some 
assistance  from  the  Roman  See  they  might  be  able  to  wring 
from  that  wretched  King  John,  who  was  a vile  old  imbecile 
and  dastardly  coward,  some  concessions  of  his  very  dearest 
privileges.  They  assembled  their  vassals  and  they  met  him 
upon  the  plain  of  Runnymede.  It  was,  and  must  have  been 
a scene  romantic  beyond  description  as  the  Barons  moved 
to  and  fro,  their  helmets  and  chain  mail  glistening  in  the 
sun,  their  plumes  waving.  The  great  charter  was  prepared 
— a great  charter  which,  in  my  opinion,  had  the  germs  of 
the  liberation  of  England;  ultimately  of  America  and  the 


"typical  men.”  69 

whole  Anglo-Saxon  race.  It  was  provided  there  that  the 
villeins,  or  the  serfs,  and  half  the  people  of  England  were 
then  serfs,  should  never  have  the  cart  or  the  plow  attached 
for  a debt.  It  was  provided  that  no  man  should  be  con- 
demned without  the  judgment  of  his  peers — the  beginning 
of  the  trial  by  jury.  It  was  provided  that  the  nobles  might 
come  at  the  call  of  the  King,  and  tenants  at  will,  it  was  the 
embryo  House  of  Lords  and  House  of  Commons.  In  the 
name  of  the  Barons,  Sir  Philip  Fitzwalter  demanded  of  the 
wretched  King  that  he  sign  the  instrument.  King  John 
hesitated  and  Sir  Philip  Fitzwalter  very  leisurely  drew  his 
sword.  The  great  document  is  signed,  the  liberties  of  the 
Saxon  race  are  secured  and  England  owes  more  to  the 
weakness  of  her  King  at  that  time  than  to  the  transcendent 
abilities  of  monarchs  who  came  'before  and  followed  after. 
(Applause.) 

Five  centuries  roll  away  and  mightier  yet  are  the 
changes.  The  spirit  of  enterprise  engrafts  herself  in  Colum- 
bus. It  as  about  that  time  that  Johann  Gutenberg  in- 
vented the  movable  type,  which  gave,  as  we  say,  wings  and 
legs  to  idea. 

Soon  after  that — soon  by  the  historic  period  there  were 
settlements  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  where  about  thir- 
teen independent  States  were  strung  upon  a slender  level 
along  the  eastern  seacoast  and  slowly  groping  up  to  the 
Alleghenies.  The  colonies  had  learned  by  successful  re- 
pulsion of  invasions  by  the  Indians  and  French,  something 
of  their  power,  and  begun  to  find  out  something  of  their 
own  resources ; the  stupidity  of  the  English  Government  at 
this  crisis  surpassed  all  belief.  The  glorious  age  of  Chat- 
ham had  passed  away  and  Lord  North  led  the  King  in  their 
feeble  councils.  With  inconceivable  follv  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, by  enacting  the  Stamp  Act,  irritated  and  enraged 
the  colonists  and  lost  a hold  on  all  the  hope  of  future 
America  for  the  sake  of  a tax  that  was  not  worth  $60,000, 


7° 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


if  it  could  have  been  collected.  By  the  duty  of  3d.  a pound 
on  tea  she  irritated  the  colonists  by  a tax  from  which  she 
never  derived  $50  in  actual  value,  and  at  last  by  the  incon- 
ceivable folly  of  bringing  on  a little  skirmish  called  the 
Battle  of  Lexington,  she  lost  her  hold  on  the  continent  for 
the  sake  of  securing  thirty-six  barrels  of  gunpowder  that 
she  never  got,  after  all.  (Laughter.)  The  typical  men  of 
the  time  appeared  in  the  Continental  Congress ; and  by  the 
exigency  of  the  time  suddenly  lifted  into  supreme  power, 
they  met  to  launch  a new  nation  into  the  world,  and  in  what 
world  did  they  launch  it?  Mighty  events  had  been  formed 
and  were  about  to  be.  Frederick  the  Great  walks  with 
tottering  steps  in  the  garden  of  Sans  Souci ; he  thinks  of 
Luther  and  Rossbach,  the  great  drill  sergeant  of  Europe ; 
thou  shalt  next  think  of  the  grave.  Maria  Theresa,  all 
faithful  and  anxious  for  the  end,  walks  the  gardens  of 
Schonbrunn,  in  Prussia;  Catherine  II.  is  passing  away 
amid  the  glitter  of  her  own  ice  palaces  in  Moscow.  There 
is  a strong  man  that  appears  in  France,  now  at  Strasburg 
and  now  at  Metz ; his  name  is  Gabriel  Honore  Riqueti  as 
well  as  Comte  de  Mirabeau.  He  is  obscure  and  low-lived, 
but  he  will  shake  thrones.  The  great  apostle  of  skepticism 
had  just  died,  the  Marquis  de  Voltaire.  He  aimed 
to  attack  superstition,  but  before  he  was  through  he 
waged  war  on  faith  itself.  There  were  existing  then 
two  remarkable  boys,  one  upon  the  Island  of  Cor- 
sica, and  another  one,  Arthur  Wellesley,  in  the  strife 
in  Egypt.  The  one  would  be  like  the  volcano  send- 
ing its  bolts  up  into  heaven,  and  the  other  was  fated 
to  be  the  gravity  that  drew  them  down.  And  in 
America  mighty  changes  were  beginning,  and  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  early  in  June,  began  to  adopt  the  subject 
of  separation.  The  final  moment  was  reached,  and  at  last, 
although  the  guidingmindofthemovement,  George  Wash- 
ington, was  encamped  by  the  City  Hall  Park,  in  this  city, 


“typical  men.”  71 

very  near  to  where  we  now  are,  the  assembly  was  had 
through  the  mind  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  with  assistance 
from  Adams  and  from  Franklin,  who  acted  through  the 
hand  of  John  Hancock.  There  was  deliberation  in  that 
great  moment  when  a nation  came  into  life,  and  with  the 
message  the  usher  of  the  Congress  said  to  the  boy  in  wait- 
ing: “Tell  the  man  to  ring,”  and  the  man  in’ the  belfry 

shook  the  old  bell  upon  which  were  engraved  the  words 
“Proclaim  liberty  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof.”  The  new 
nation  was  born  and  a new  hemisphere  was  detached  from 
the  old  conservatism  of  Europe,  and  the  history,  and  the 
future  of  the  world,  leaving  the  past  to  the  old  world,  the 
future  of  the  world  and  that  of  mankind  was  in  the  hand 
of  the  United  States  forevermore.  (Great  applause.) 

I shall  say  what  I think.  What  else  can  I say?  I do 
not  know  but  that  our  fathers  have  been  in  some  respects 
overpraised.  They  liberated  the  continent,  but  imperfectly. 
It  was  not  all  done.  It  is  something  grotesque  to  see  that 
they  never  noticed  the  inconsistency  of  freeing  one  race 
and  allowing  that  race  to  enslave  another.  Now,  the  logic 
of  the  situation  is  that  if  you  tie  a chain  around  the  neck  of 
the  slave  you  tie  the  slave  to  you,  but  you  are  attached  to 
him  and  the  other  end  of  the  chain  is  around  the  master’s 
neck  also. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  a peculiarity  of  work  in  this  world  that 
imperfect  effort,  or  whatever  may  be  accomplished  by  it, 
always  leaves  the  imperfection  as  the  most  active  and  promi- 
nent feature.  You  have  a shoe  made  of  the  finest  materials, 
but  there  is  one  interfering  peg  or  nail ; all  your  attention 
is  fixed  upon  the  defective  part.  (Laughter.)  You  do  not 
notice  the  merits  of  the  rest.  It  was  just  so  with  the  Ameri- 
can Constitution  that  trouble  came  from  the  imperfect  work. 
Just  as  the  trouble  of  the  Israelites,  when  they  reached  the 
promised  land  there  came  the  Hittites  and  Philistines, 
whom  they  failed  to  subdue  at  the  proper  time.  It  is  singu- 


7* 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


lar  to  sec  how  rapidly  and  how  thoroughly  slavery  dis- 
placed all  other  political  questions  and  placed  itself  before 
the  world  and  the  country  as  the  one  living  issue.  I do  not 
know  but  that  the  next  generation  feared  the  inevitable 
war  d little  too  much.  Perhaps  they  were  timid  in  trying  to 
postpone  doing,  but  it  was  very  natural.  There  was  a 
whole  aye  of  compromise,  but  Clay,  Webster  and  Thomas 
Benton  never  did  fairly  convince  the  world  that  that  which 
was  morally  wrong  could  be  politically  right.  An  obscure 
man  then  declared  before  the  Illinois  Legislature  that  the 
Union  could  not  exist  half  slave  and  half  free,  and  the 
prophecy  of  Cassandra  was  for  the  time  being  unnoticed. 
Wise  men  began  to  see  that  the  country  could  be  settled 
only  by  the  bloodiest  war,  but  where  is  the  pilot  who  can 
guide  the  ship  through  the  coming  storm,  and  who  is  the 
one  that  will  lead  us  in  the  gigantic  contest?  Far  away  on 
the  prairies  of  the  West  the  man  was  preparing,  and  when 
the  tale  of  bricks  is  accomplished  there  was  a master  who 
had  been  trained  and  was  ready  to  come.  The  spirit  of  a 
coming  which  had  incarnated  itself  some  years  before  in  a 
typical  man,  who  was  born  about  as  far  from  great  things 
as  any  one  well  could  be.  I do  not  know  a character  in 
history  that  shows  so  great  a difference  between  his  early 
promise  and  the  immense  subsequent  result.  The  genius 
of  civilization  passed  bv  the  men  of  the  schools,  the  learned, 
the  high  and  the  mighty,  and  she  incarnated  herself  in  a 
rail-splitter,  a raftsman  on  a flatboat,  an  unsuccessful  mer- 
chant and  dealer  in  stories,  rather  more  pointed  than  re- 
fined, and  a man  who  began  life  as  a laborer,  and  finally 
as  a lawyer,  found  perhaps  from  the  working  of  his  own 
conscience  and  moral  nature  very  limited  success  at  the  be- 
ginning of  his  profession.  But  T hold,  Mr.  President,  the 
peculiar  and  matchless  spirit  of  Lincoln  over  all  the  men  of 
his  time  was  in  his  capacity  for  measureless  growth.  There 
was  in  him  the  indefinable,  subtle  and  literally  limitless  ex- 


"typical  men.  73 

pansion.  He  resembled  the  Afreet  in  the  Arabian  story, 
chained  down  and  penned  into  the  bottle  of  smoke;  you 
would  look  first  and  say,  why  a little  can  hold  the  whole  of 
him,  but  the  smoke  ascended  to  the  heavens  and  lo!  we 
have  the  Afreet  whose  feet  are  on  the  earth  and  whose  head 
seems  to  brush  the  very  stars  of  heaven. 

The  vast  expansion  of  Lincoln’s  character  came  from 
his  extraordinary  moral  character  and  his  extraordinary 
intellectual  nature.  I say  his  extraordinary  moral  nature. 
For  it  is  an  idea  of  mine,  and  I believe  it  is  true,  that  the 
moral  faculties  can  be  just  as  much  a seat  of  genius  as  the 
intellectual.  There  was  in  Lincoln  an  honesty,  a candor  of 
nature,  a love  of  the  right,  a certain  reality,  a sense  of  the 
real,  that  made  him  the  best  adapted  of  any  man  of  his 
time  to  burst  the  bubble,  to  shake  down  the  shame,  to 
come  to  real  point  and  essence  of  the  fact.  There  was  not 
one  in  his  time  that  excelled  him  in  a certain  ability  to  take 
all  the  complications  of  a situation,  throw  some  conditions 
away  as  so  much  mere  chaff  and  stand  and  put  his  finger 
directly  on  the  hinging  point.  With  this  there  was  a mar- 
velous power  of  what  I call  clear,  explicit  statement;  a 
wonderful  skill  in  the  writing,  plotting,  and  arranging  of 
his  ideas ; an  ability  to  put  things  before  other  minds  in  a 
way  to  carry  his  point  so  that  while  he  appeared  to  feel  he 
was  invisible,  and  unconsciously  the  leader,  and  left  men  to 
follow  him  under  the  pleasing  delusion  that  they  were  only 
carrying  out  their  own  minds  (applause)  ; he  had  drawn  his 
resources  from  others,  but  more  from  himself.  Surrounded 
by  the  coarse  companionship,  the  eye  of  genius  could  see 
objects  invisible  to  other  minds;  he  enriched  his  mind  from 
the  half  dozen  books  that  he  could  get,  and  it  was  a mercy 
to  him  that  he  only  had  half  a dozen,  for  he  was  able  to 
master  them.  TTe  was  trained  in  ways  that  he  knew  not  for 
his  great  position,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Barons  and 
King  John,  the  very  deficiencies  of  Lincoln  were  favorable 


74 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


to  ‘his  success.  Gentlemen,  very  often  men  owe  success  to 
a mere  deficiency.  It  was  that  that  made  the  military 
strength  of  Grant  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  that  they 
had  almost  no  imagination,  and  they  were  never  deceived 
by  fears  or  mistakes  in  the  future.  Lincoln’s  want  of  con- 
ventional refinement  brought  him  nearer  to  the  heart  and 
made  him  more  popular  with  the  masses,  and  there  was  a 
kind  of  slowness  in  the  workings  of  his  mind,  because  he 
was  a Caesar,  that  had  to  take  the  people  constantly  into 
partnership.  It  was  not  possible,  as  we  see  now,  to  get  the 
victory  too  soon,  he  had  to  wait  until  the  people  came  to 
his  way  of  thinking.  He  was  moving  on  to  destinies  of 
which  lie  suspected  nothing.  There  was  no  one  that  ever 
saw  where  he  would  ultimately  he.  He  was  an  enigma  to 
those  around  him,  for  he  spoke  the  last  word  of  the  new 
movement  and  no  one  could  yet  read  it.  He  was  obliged  to 
incorporate  himself  with  the  great  political  revolution  until 
he  fairly  obliged  the  revolution  to  incorporate  itself  in  him. 
(Applause.) 

The  key  of  the  situation  was  in  the  hand  of  this  remark- 
able man,  though  he  did  not  know  it.  A succession  of  as- 
tonishing events,  combinations  of  his  own  ability  and  the 
vital  force  of  circumstances,  wafted  him  into  the  place  of 
power.  From  the  standpoint  of  national  observation  he 
discovered  what  had  undoubtedly  been  undiscovered  for  a 
long  time  before,  that  all  the  troubles,  delays  and  difficul- 
ties of  the  country  centered  in  slavery,  and  he  made  up  his 
mind  that  slavery  must  go.  He  was  not  assisted  much. 
He  treaded  the  winepress  alone.  There  is  something  more 
than  in  one  celf-contented  man  thinking  out  himself  the 
whole  problem  of  the  country  and  curing  the  disease  of  the 
age.  He  was  strong  and  he  was  yielding.  He  had  not 
strength  like  a stone  buttress,  but  rather  that  of  the  wire 
cable.  On  the  21st  of  September,  1862,  he  met  his  cabinet, 
and,  as  has  been  said,  he  read  them  a page  or  two  of 


“typical  men.”  75 

Artemus  Ward ; it  was  one  of  the  grandest  efforts  in  the 
history  of  the  world — the  meeting  of  that  cabinet  was  on  a 
par  with  the  Declaration  of  Independence  or  the  meeting 
of  the  Barons  at  Runnymede ; and  then  he  showed  them  a 
draft  of  a proclamation,  to  be  adopted  without  debate  as  to 
its  essential  points,  that  slaves  were  to  be  made  free  on  an 
appointed  day.  At  the  suggestion  of  Secretary  Seward  he 
waited,  and  wisely,  until  he  could  connect  his  mighty  move- 
ment with  some  sort  of  a victory.  The  Battle  of  Antietam 
occurred  as  a fact ; the  proclamation  was  made  known  upon 
the  22d  day  of  September,  and  it  went  into  effect  in  Janu- 
ary of  the  following  year.  I do  not  know  whether  history 
ever  shows  a movement  that  was  more  thoroughly  wise  or 
more  consummately  adroit ; it  exposed  the  rebels’  position 
completely ; it  put  them  before  the  world  as  the  avowed  de- 
fenders of  the  vilest  institution  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
foreign  governments  who  would  try  to  assist  them 
must  pose  themselves  before  the  world  as  defenders  of 
slavery  alone.  Moral  victory.  A new  heart  in  the  nation, 
sprung  from  the  national  endorsement  of  the  right  side ; the 
strong  army  of  Ulysses  Grant  was  the  hand  that  carried  out 
the  magnificent  Lincoln  thought.  Glorious  nation ! Vic- 
tories followed  in  (succession,  Vicksburg  was  broken  down 
and  the  Mississippi  swept  unretarded  to  the  sea;  and  on 
the  1st  of  January,  1863,  or  as  soon  after  as  war  could 
effectuate  it,  slavery  disappeared  from  the  United  States,  a 
few  years  after  it  disappeared  from  the  whole  civilized 
world,  and  the  fulfillment  of  the  Apostle  Paul’s  prophecy, 
“God  hath  created  in  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,”  found 
its  realization  in  that  tremendous  thought  of  the  railsplitter 
of  Illinois.  (Great  applause.) 

That  was  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion. Gentlemen  of  the  Republican  Club,  we  may  approach 
another ; we  think  too  much  of  epochs.  They  only  indicate 
the  last  of  a succession  of  steps.  The  long  hand  of  the 


76 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


clock  runs  over  fifty-nine  minutes,  it  passes  another  minute, 
and  we  count  time  from  another  hour;  the  last  minute 
would  have  no  importance  if  it  were  not  for  the  fifty-nine 
that  went  before  it.  The  epoch  is  approaching  now ; the 
epoch  is  eternal.  I am  interested  as  a minister  in  the  doc- 
trine of  apostolic  succession.  I do  not  believe  in  the  suc- 
cession by  the  laying  on  of  hands,  but  I do  believe  in  the 
transmission  of  a hero.  Ideas  are  eternal.  But  men  who 
incarnate  the  ideas  ever  change.  Gentlemen  of  the  Repub- 
lican Club,  the  spirit  of  the  apostle  on  Mars  Hill,  the  spirit 
of  the  Barons  of  Runnymede,  the  spirit  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  the  spirit  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  with  you.  You 
are  the  heirs  of  it  and  it  is  for  you  to  carry  it  on.  It  is  the 
glory  of  a past  example  that  can  be  adapted  to  new  issues 
and  to  changing  conditions.  It  is  beneath  us,  gentlemen, 
to  be  guilty  of  the  folly  to  endeavor  to  imitate  the  technical 
acts  of  a hero,  but  we  can  make  his  spirit  immortal.  It 
would  be  folly  to  run  into  the  Red  Sea  because  the  Israel- 
ites did ; the  waves  might  not  divide,  and  we  would  only 
get  drowned.  It  would  be  folly  to  set  apples  on  little  boys’ 
heads  and  begin  shooting  at  them  with  bow  and  arrow  be- 
cause William  Tell  did.  It  would  be  perfect  folly  to  get  a 
hatchet  and  run  around  chopping  down  cherry  trees  and 
then  go  and  say,  “Father,  I can’t  tell  a lie,”  because  George 
Washington  did.  That  kind  of  imitation  is  the  imitation  of 
a fool,  but  the  spirit  of  these  heroes  can  be  incarnated  in 
us,  and  we  can  go  on  doing  what  they  would  do  if  they 
were  in  our  places  and  in  our  situation.  You  talk  of  the 
glorious  history  of  the  Republican  party ! I talk  of  its 
glorious  future.  All  that  it  has  done  is  nothing  as  to  its 
future  possibilities.  I believe  in  comparison  with  what  it 
shall  be,  it  is  only  a baby  or  a little  bundle  of  political  possi- 
bilities yet.  Let  us  never  cease  to  blow.  Let  us  never 
haul  down  the  American  flag  while  there  remains  a political 
difficulty  to  be  confronted  or  while  there  remains  a political 


"typical  men."  77 

problem  yet  to  be  solved.  The  Democratic  party  in  this 
city  has  made  an  effort  indeed  to  put  away  Tammany. 
Cannot  the  Republican  party  improve  herself?  Cannot  the 
party  of  Lincoln,  and  Garfield,  and  Blaine,  and  Grant,  and 
Chase,  and  Sumner  shake  off  the  last  remnant  of  boss  ism  ? 
(Applause.)  We  know  that  Adam  started  his  administra- 
tion well  and  Eve  ran  it  out.  Mr.  President,  would  you 
have  the  forbearance,  and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  Republican 
Club,  to  only  let  me  quote  one  line  of  the  immortal  Milton : 
“The  flowery  Platt  and  the  sweet  rose  of  Eve.” 

We  must  advance,  advance  in  a strength  that  is  in- 
vincible and  with  a power  that  is  literally  without  limit,  ad- 
vance to  the  consideration  of  currency,  of  financial  ques- 
tions, of  questions  of  the  laborer,  of  striking  the  exact  bal- 
ance between  free  trade  and  protection,  an  intensely  diffi- 
cult problem;  and  all  the  political  and  social  woes  of  man- 
kind on  this  hemisphere  look  to  us  for  their  renovation. 
The  time  has  come  for  a great  advancement. 

If  you  are  familiar  with  Walter  Scott’s  novel  of  Ivanhoe, 
you  will  notice  in  the  siege  of  the  castle,  you  remember, 
just  as  Cedric  was  about  to  make  his  way  into  the  oppos- 
ing ranks  there  appeared  before  him  a wretched  old  woman 
and  said  to  him,  “I  am  Saxon,  do  you  know  me  ?”  "Know 
you  ?”  said  he,  "you  are  Ulricka,  the  daughter  of  the  Saxon 
lord  of  this  castle,  and,  oh,  you  have  lived  as  the  concubine 
of  'Front  de  Boeuf,  the  Norman  conqueror,  and  when  your 
father  and  your  brothers  died  defending  their  home  and 
masses  were  said  in  every  church  in  England,  you  were 
content  to  live  in  sin  and  in  shame;  contemptible  hag,  I 
wish  I had  my  sword  that  I might  kill  you."  But  she  re- 
plied, "However  I have  lived,  I die  well.  When  you  see 
the  red  flag  on  the  battlements,  press  the  enemy’s  heart.” 
On  the  next  day  the  attacking  party  advanced  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Black  Knight,  who  was  no  other  than 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  and  suddenly  they  saw  the  red  flag 


78 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


j 

on  the  battlements  and  descried  a little  blue  smoke  ascend- 
ing from  the  castle  roof — the  hag  had  set  the  castle  on  fire, 
the  storming  party  advanced,  the  awful  blows  of  Richard 
Plantagenet  were  heard  on  the  postern  door,  and  in  a short 
time  the  poor  feudal  baron  was  leveled  to  the  ground.  It 
is  a time  for  present  great  advancement ; I see  the  red  flag, 
the  signal  for  action.  I see  the  blue  smoke  that  indicates 
the  combustion  of  our  political  companions  curling  up  into 
the  heavens.  It  is  a time  for  the  grand  advance,  and  may 
the  battle  axe  of  Republicanism  shiver  in  pieces  all  vestiges 
of  party  tyranny  and  lead  us  forward  into  the  glorious,  all- 
pervading  freedom  which  under  the  leadership  of  that 
mighty  party  I believe  we  are  permitted  and  decreed  to  at- 
tain. (Cheers  and  applause.) 

“THE  HOME  OF  LINCOLN.” 

Response  by  Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch  at  a dinner  of  the  Republican  Club  of  New 
York,  February  15,  1896. 

Mr.  President,  the  genius  of  the  English  language,  said 
the  Frenchman,  was  very  peculiar,  and  I discovered  that 
the  Frenchman  was  right.  I am  to  follow  after  one  in 
whom  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  have  found  their  resurrec- 
tion (laughter),  and  another  one  whose  wisdom  and  sound 
political  philosophy  justify  his  elevation  to  that  highest 
chamber  of  American  legislative  bodies  into  which  he  will 
bring  a little  more  than  idle  talk.  I say  I am  to  follow  after. 
That  makes  me  very  uncomfortable,  for  to  follow  them  I 
would  have  no  hesitancy,  their  principles  are  mine,  and 
whither  they  led  I should  go ; but  to  follow  after  at  a din- 
ner like  this  makes  me  think  of  the  old  country  parson  who 
advertised  as  follows : “Wanted,  a good  stout  horse  to  do 
a poor  country  minister’s  work.”  (Laughter.)  I feel  like 
advertising  for  a good,  stout  Republican  horse,  not  another 
kind  of  donkey,  to  do  my  work  here.  If  it  were  not  for  the 
fact  that  we  Chicagoans  are  noted  for  our  modesty 


79 


"the  HOME  OF  LINCOLN." 

(laughter),  I should  crawl  into  a hole.  I may  get  there  be- 
fore I get  through. 

It  is  safe,  Mr.  President,  to  assert  that  to-day,  four 
score  years  and  seven  after  his  advent,  and  more  than  three 
decades  after  his  ascension  to  glory.  Abraham  Lincoln  be- 
longs to  no  one  State.  In  the  flesh  the  son  of  one  nation,  in 
the  spirit  he  is  proudly  claimed  and  his  memory  is  treasured 
as  the  priceless  inspiration  by  all  humanity.  The  whole  earth 
is  a willing  pedestal  to  his  fame,  and  the  best  and  noblest 
of  all  nations  asks  for  the  privilege  to  garland  afresh  every 
year  his  memorial  in  their  hearts.  (Applause.) 

In  the  alchemy  of  reverence  for  him  the  distinctions  and 
differences  of  geographical  longitudes  or  social  hierarchy 
are  dissolved.  In  royal  palaces  and  baronial  manors,  mu- 
seums, though  oft  they  be  of  trophies  won  in  days  when 
America  was  still  curtained  from  the  ken  of  seafaring  men, 
and  monuments  as  they  are  of  political  systems  antipodal 
to  his,  the  name  of  the  American  railsplitter  has  become  a 
household  word,  and  by  rulers  is  recognized  as  right  to  be 
one  of  their  order,  by  a sanctification  more  solemn  than 
heredity  could  ever  confer  (Bravo),  and  the  common  people 
untitled  and  unpurpled  from  pole  to  pole,  and  zone  to  zone, 
love  and  reverence  the  great  American  railsplitter.  They 
know  that  he  possessed  the  spirit  of  greatness,  which  comes 
to  but  the  chosen  few ; they  know  that  he  loved  the  people 
and  had  faith  in  the  national  destiny  of  his  own  people,  a 
faith  that  carried  him  through  the  fiery  furnace  of  war  and 
rebellion  to  his  apotheosis,  the  last  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of 
our  reunited  country.  (Cheers  and  applause.)  Still,  though 
Lincoln  to-day  does  no  longer  belong  to  one  State  or  even  - 
to  one  nation,  he  has  forever  linked  his  name  with  the  State 
and  territory  of  Illinois.  Every  great  man  casts  a lustre 
over  the  place  where  his  cradle  stood.  His  Mecca  to-day 
is  the  magnet  of  all  Islam.  The  patriarchs  weave  romance 
and  reverence  around  the  caves  where  their  bones  were 


8o 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


laid  to  rest,  and  certainly  there  is  one  whose  love  was 
broad  enough  to  encompass  the  whole  world,  who  was  so 
free  from  the  limitations  that  are  the  heirlooms  of  all  hu- 
manity in  the  flesh  that  he  called  himself  the  “Son  of  Man,” 
even  he,  with  a heart  to  which  all  humanity  was  pressed, 
has  lent  his  name  and  glory  to  Bethlehem  and  to  Galilee. 
(Applause.)  And  so  the  Bethlehem  of  Lincoln  lies  forever 
in  history  bathed  in  the  flash  of  light  of  his  own  glory,  and 
so  does  his  Galilee  forever  find  a place  in  the  records  of 
time.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky.  He  came  to  our  State 
at  an  early  period  of  his  life.  It  was  there  where  he 
struggled  with  poverty,  not  material,  but  with  poverty, 
spiritual  and  mental,  and  conquered  the  penury  of  his  early 
days,  and  changed  it  by  the  power  of  his  genius  into  a 
wealth  unequalled  by  the  learning  of  the  most  famous  dis- 
coverers that  search  the  stars  or  fathom  the  depths  of  the 
ocean.  (Applause.)  It  was  in  Illinois  that  he  first  ad- 
dressed his  people  from  a stump  and  from  the  fence ; it  was 
in  Illinois  that  he  first  practiced  at  the  bar  of  an  American 
Court  of  Justice ; it  was  in  Illinois  that  that  tournament  took 
place,  the  like  of  which  no  minstrel  ever  sung  of,  which 
awoke  the  Union  to  a realization  of  the  danger  that  was 
approaching — the  battle  in  which  Douglass,  a foe  worthy 
of  the  steel  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  won  the  Senatorship,  but 
from  which  Lincoln  went  forth  to  win  the  Presidency  of  the 
Nation  at  a time  when  the  Nation  needed  that  pilot  sent  to 
it  by  no  lesser  power  than  that  which  we  call  the  power  of 
God.  (Tremendous  cheering.)  It  was  from  Illinois  that 
he  set  out  for  the  capitol  of  the  Republic,  and  to  Illinois 
was  brought  back  his  mortality,  there  it  sleeps  under  the 
very  shadow  of  Illinois’  own  capitol.  Illinois  has  been 
favored  by  the  skies  and  the  elements ; her  soil  is  rich ; her 
rivers  run  swiftly ; her  industries,  under  Republican  govern- 
ment, were  active  and  thrifty ; her  chimneys  many,  smoking 
to  heaven ; the  clanging  of  the  hammer  on  the  anvil  is  heard 


“the  HOME  OF  LINCOLN.”  8l 

in  many  places  ; her  hamlets  are  monuments  to  human  in- 
genuity ; her  towns  are  hustling  with  energy,  and  her  me- 
tropolis, ambitious  to  become  the  first  city  of  the  country, 
has  acted  as  the  representative  of  the  Nation  when  the 
Nation  invited  all  of  her  neighbors  to  come  and  witness  the 
marvelous  progress  made  since  the  days  when  Columbus 
discovered  this  continent,  changing  by  her  ambition  a dis- 
mal swamp  into  a dream  of  beauty — 'the  White  City.  Yes, 
Illinois,  Chicago,  has  made  glorious  a bright  page  in  the 
history  of  this  Nation  and  of  the  world,  and  yet  what  is 
the  coin  that  we  find  in  the  mines  of  Illinois  ? What  are  the 
wheat  and  the  barley  that  grow  there  ? What  is  the  iron  that 
is  moulded  and  wrought  there  ? What  the  planning, 
the  plotting,  the  exchanges  that  are  maneuvered  in  bustling 
Chicago?  Yea,  what  is  the  new  ambition  of  Chicago  to 
make  full  of  light  the  sooty  atmosphere  of  her  sky  by 
kindling  a new  beacon  of  intelligence  and  education  in  her 
great  university?  What  are  all  these  possessions  compared 
to  the  one  priceless  exceptional  possession  which  it  enjoys 
in  the  ownership  of  such  names  as  Grant  and  Logan,  as  the 
Guard  by  the  grave  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  (Great  applause.) 
We  in  Illinois  feel  that  such  distinction  entails  new  obliga- 
tions, especially  we  of  the  Republican  party  of  Illinois  know 
that  the  Nation  has  the  right  to  expect  of  us  to  be  worthy 
of  these  hallowing  memories.  It  is  true  that  issues  which 
convulsed  the  time  and  the  age  of  Lincoln  and  Seward  are 
decided  forever,  dead.  The  men  that  wore  the  blue  and 
the  men  that  wore  the  gray  know  but  one  flag,  and  with  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  waving  over  them  they  spring  across  the 
bloody  chasm  to  grasp  a brotherly  hand  and  to  register  the 
vow  to  heaven  that  should  ever  that  flag  be  assailed,  either 
from  within  or  without,  the  veterans  from  the  blue  field  and 
the  veterans  from  the  gray  belt  will  stand  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  and  conquer  by  their  oft-proven  heroism  and 


82 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


valor  the  armies  of  the  world  for  liberty  and  for  freedom. 
(Applause.) 

New  duties  await  us,  and  new  questions  ask  for  solu- 
tion. We  Republicans  of  Illinois  have  no  doubt  that  the 
Republican  party  with  its  glorious  past  has  still  a more 
glorious  future  before  it.  We  know  that  patriotism,  such 
patriotism  as  was  Abraham  Lincoln’s,  will  be  the  solvent 
of  all  perplexities  to-day.  He  was  a politician.  In  these 
our  days  we  associate  with  the  word  politician  a sort  of  a 
by-meaning,  and  in  consequence  politics  by  the  American 
people  are  regarded  as  something  unworthy  of  the  citizen 
of  this  land.  In  a Republic  every  citizen  must  be  a poli- 
tician as  was  Abe  Lincoln.  Private  selfishness  is  sapping 
the  very  foundations  of  our  political  system.  If  it  be,  as 
Lincoln  said,  a government  by  the  people,  of  the  people 
and  for  the  people,  the  people’s  will  must  be  ascertained. 
No  one  has  the  right  to  disenfranchise  himself.  It  is  treason 
to  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  government  to  stay 
away  from  the  ballot  box  and  to  take  no  interest  in  politics. 
(Great  applause.)  Of  course,  if  politician  is  a synonym  for 
coward,  if  politician  means  that  by  hook  or  crook  the  will 
of  the  people  shall  be  defeated,  then  there  is  no  word  in 
the  catalogue  of  any  language  so  base  as  is  the  idea  which 
is  conveyed  by  that  word,  politician.  But  was  this  honest 
old  politician  of  the  old  school  a coward?  He  said  in  Illi- 
nois a country  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  A house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  This  country  cannot 
be  half  slave  and  half  free,  and,  thereby  had  the  courage 
to  endanger  his  chances  for  the  Senatorial  seat,  but  losing 
the  toga  of  the  Senator,  he  won  the  laurel  wreath  of  glory 
and  martyrdom  in  the  chief  magistrate’s  chair  of  the  Na- 
tion. (Applause.)  Our  people  want  honest  men.  They 
want  from  the  high  place  of  authority  to  be  instructed  and 
to  be  guided,  guided  in  the  spirit  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  He 
was  a patriot,  patriot  not  of  the  jingo  school,  nor  a patriot 


"the  HOME  OF  LINCOLN."  83 

of  that  school  which  is  constantly  looking  about  for  a scape- 
goat. We  have  here  in  America  a real  scapegoat — the 
foreigner.  When  we  Americans  commit  any  crime,  the 
foreigner  stands  ready  to  act  as  our  shield,  as  the  shield  of 
our  sinless  conscience. 

I do  not  say  aught  against  the  stand  taken  by  the  ora- 
tors who  preceded  me,  that  in  Lincoln  there  asserted  itself 
the  Puritan  blood  of  his  ancestral  grandsire.  To  the  Pur- 
itans this  country  owes  a great  deal.  It  is  the  Puritans 
who  have  given  to  this  country  the  backbone  of  its  morality, 
the  unbending  backbone  sometimes,  but  if  they  had  given 
the  backbone  of  our  morality,  still  if  this  our  country  is  too 
large  to  be  merely  New  England,  it  is  the  new  world,  and 
all  nations  have  contributed  toward  its  wealth.  In  the  Rev- 
olutionary days  the  Germans  came  to  Germantown;  the 
Huguenots  to  the  Carolinas;  the  Dutch  to  New  Amsterdam. 
All  the  nations  of  Europe  contributed  of  their  wealth  to  our 
stores.  And  when  old  Abraham  Lincoln  called,  in  Illinois 
more  than  five  regiments  marched  to  the  song  of  "We  are 
Coming,  Father  Abraham,”  sung  not  in  our  English,  but 
in  tones  in  the  language  of  the  Fatherland.  When  he  called 
they  all  rushed  to  the  defense,  and  so  to-day  there  is  many 
an  American  who  does  not  know  what  that  flag  means,  and 
there  are  many  who  have  not  by  their  own  choice,  but  by 
accident,  forfeited  their  hopes  ever  to  act  as  Presidential 
possibilities  in  the  Republican  party,  who  know,  though 
born  across  the  briny  deep,  that  among  the  symbols  of  the 
world  there  are  none  so  glorious  as  Old  Glory,  and  who  in 
their  household  have  no  religious  emblem  to  which  they 
ascribe  such  sacramental  power  as  they  do  to  the  map  of 
the  sky,  the  stars  of  the  night,  the  bars  of  the  light,  and  the 
white  of  God’s  innocence.  (Great  applause.)  To  this 
Americanism  must  be  wedded  the  Republican  party;  the 
Republican  party  must  be  wedded  to  principles  that  will 
make  our  nation  industrially  independent,  and  every  pledge 
given  by  the  Nation  must  be  indeed  redeemed  honestly, 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


for  no  nation,  and  especially  not  a Republican  nation,  can 
afford  to  stand  before  the  world  a self-convicted,  arrogant 
and  impotent  bankrupt.  No.  We  must  pay  honestly  all 
the  pledges  that  we  have  ever  entered  into.  (Applause.) 
To-day  in  America  there  is  much  talk  about  non-partisan- 
ship. An  American  must  be  a partisan.  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  a partisan.  Parties  are  necessary.  Some  parties  seem 
to  receive  from  God  the  providential  mission  to  act  as  the 
constant  No,  the  terrible  negative,  and  there  lies  their  prov- 
ince. As  long  as  they  confine  themselves  to  that  prov- 
ince they  act  for  the  good  of  the  whole  country,  for  they 
keep  the  positive  party  straight,  for  fear  the  old  positive 
party,  like  old  Israel,  should  wax  fat  and  begin  to  kick, 
like  so  many  instruments  under  God  to  make  the  Repub- 
lican soreheads  in  exile  come  back  purified  and  chastened 
(applause)  to  assume  again  the  obligations  of  positive  gov- 
ernment. But  a party  that  never  knows  what  it  is,  and 
which  only  knows  where  it  is  at  when  offices  are  in  sight, 
that  party  indeed  can  no  longer  be  intrusted  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Nation,  longer  than  the  rehabilitation  mor- 
ally of  the  Republican  party  requires.  (Great  applause.) 

“THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.” 

Response  by  Hon.  Joseph  B.  Foraker  at  a dinner  of  the  Republican  Club  of 
New  York,  February  15,  1896. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I sincerely  thank  you  for  so  kind,  so  cordial,  and  so 
complimentary  a greeting.  I wish  I knew  how,  better  than 
I do,  to  make  fitting  response  to  it.  It  seems  to  me  all  I 
can  think  of  to  say  is  simply,  I thank  you;  and  that  I do 
with  all  my  heart. 

In  undertaking  to  address  you,  I labor  under  at  least 
two  embarrassments.  In  the  first  place,  I do  not  think  I 
ever  heard  an  abler,  a more  beautiful,  a more  appropriate 
speech  than  that  to  which  we  have  just  listened.  (Great 
applause.)  And  it  seems  to  me  that  the  very  best  thing  I 


"the  republican  party.”  85 

could  possibly  do  would  be  to  move  that  we  adjourn  in 
order  that  the  impressions  made  by  that  address  might  be 
left  undisturbed  upon  our  minds.  Another  embarrassment 
is  that  I recall,  as  I undertake  to  think  of  something  to  say 
in  answer  to  this  sentiment,  that  I once  before  addressed 
this  same  club  upon  this  same  subject,  and  told  you  then 
all  I knew  about  it  up  to  date;  that  cuts  me  off  from  the 
discussion,  at  least  in  large  part,  of  the  past  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  But  perhaps  that  is  as  well  as  otherwise,  for 
the  past  of  the  Republican  party  really  needs  that  nothing 
should  be  said  for  it.  It  will  take  care  of  itself.  It  needs 
no  eulogy.  (Applause.)  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  is 
replete  with  glorious  achievements.  The  great  days,  and 
the  great  men  of  the  Republican  party  of  the  past  will  for- 
ever challenge  the  admiration  of  the  world.  (Great  ap- 
plause.) And  as  the  past  is  full  of  glory,  so  is  the  present 
resplendent  with  triumph.  No  political  party  ever  before 
won  such  victories  as  we  are  now  enjoying  at  the  hands  of 
those  who  defeated  us,  for,  in  the  hour  of  their  ascendancy, 
has  come  to  us  our  most  signal  vindication.  The  Demo- 
cratic party  in  power  has  been  a sore  trial  for  the  country, 
but  it  has  brought  to  all  the  rich  blessings  of  experimental 
education.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  As  a result,  the 
people  of  this  country  know  more  than  ever  before  of  the 
relative  work  of  Republicanism  and  Democracy.  They 
know  more  about  our  principles  and  less  about  theirs. 
(Laughter.)  It  is  no  longer  necessary,  and  there  is  a great 
saving  in  that  when  we  come  to  the  campaign  oratory,  to 
make  an  argument  to  demonstrate  that  if  you  manufacture 
a product  abroad,  you  do  not  need  to  manufacture  it  here. 
(Laughter.)  And  even  the  most  obtuse  man  can  in  the 
light  of  this  experience  comprehend  that  if  other  countries 
supply  our  wants  the  result  is  greater  activity  and  prosper- 
ity for  them,  with  corresponding  idleness  and  distress  for 
us.  We  have  passed  from  the  troubles  of  a surplus  to  the 
study  of  a deficit.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  We  have  seen 


86 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


our  credit  impaired,  our  currency  deranged,  and  an  endless 
chain  of  demands  and  evils,  resulting  in  bond  issues,  bond 
syndicates,  and  bond  scandals.  (Laughter.) 

Without  an  exception  our  home  policy  has  brought  only 
rack  and  ruin,  while  our  foreign  policy  has  been  an  unin- 
terrupted chapter  of  disappointment  and  mortification.  To 
make  a long  story  short,  three  years  of  Democratic  rule 
have  demonstrated  the  heresy  of  Democratic  principles,  and 
established  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  ours.  (Applause.) 

They  have  done  more.  They  have  made  it  manifest 
that  there  is  absolutely  no  harmony  of  opinion  among 
Democrats  as  to  what  Democracy  means.  (Laughter.) 
You  can  scarcely  find  two  of  their  leaders,  who  can  be  said 
to  be  in  strict  accord  as  to  what  constitutes  the  Simon  pure 
article.  (Laughter.) 

They  are  hopelessly  divided  upon  every  great  question. 
We  have  seen  the  House  quarrel  with  the  Senate;  the  Senate 
quarrel  with  the  House;  both  Houses  quarrel  with  the  Pres- 
ident, and  the  President  refuse  to  agree  with  anybody. 
(Laughter.) 

In  the  presence  of  the  whole  nation,  and  at  a time  of  the 
most  serious  peril  and  grave  responsibility,  we  have  been 
treated  to  exhibitions  of  “party  perfidy”  and  the  “com- 
munism of  pelf,”  while  months  passed  with  nothing  done 
except  to  demonstrate  incapacity  to  -do  anything  at  all,  and 
now,  finally,  as  a sort  of  grotesque  climax  to  the  whole 
miserable  business,  we  have  been  called  to  witness  the  spec- 
tacular performance  of  the  successor  of  John  C.  Calhoun, 
a Senator  of  the  United  States  from  the  State  of  South 
Carolina,  sah  (laughter),  standing  up  in  his  place  in  the 
most  august  place  on  earth,  and  in  the  name  of  statesman- 
ship, to  use  his  own  language,  “sticking  a pitchfork  into  the 
big,  fat  ribs  of  a Democratic  President.”  (Laughter  and 
Applause.)  Such  experiences  as  these  have  made  it  pain- 
fully clear  that  great,  rich,  and  powerful  as  our  country  is, 
there  can  be  no  prosperity  unless  wisdom,  patriotism,  and 


"the  republican  party.”  87 

sound  business  sense  are  applied  in  the  conduct  of  its 
affairs.  (Applause.) 

Everybody  knows,  and  nobody  better  than  the  Demo- 
crats themselves,  that  the  Democratic  party  lacks  all  these 
essential  requisites  of  success.  (Applause.)  As  a result, 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  them,  preferring  country  to  party, 
have  bolted  their  organization,  and  cast  in  their  lot  with  us. 
They  voted  with  us  last  year,  and  they  will  vote  with  us 
this  year.  The  elections  of  next  November  will  triumph- 
antly restore  the  Republican  party  to  power,  and  the  fourth 
of  March,  1897,  will  mark  the  beginning  of  the  second  era 
of  Republican  rule.  (Cheers.)  One  can  speak  with  con- 
fidence of  past  events  and  of  existing  conditions.  It  is 
seldom  that  we  can  forecast  without  some  misgiving  the 
future,  but  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  certain  things  will  come 
to  pass  when  the  Republican  party  regains  control  of  the 
nation.  It  is  safe,  I take  it,  to  assume  that  practically,  with- 
out dissent  or  debate,  there  will  be  a revision  of  the  tariff 
on  protection  lines  (applause),  to  the  end  that  our  Govern- 
ment may  have  a sufficient  revenue,  and  our  industries  and 
labor  a sufficient  protection.  (Cries  of  “Good!”)  With 
equal  unanimity,  reciprocity  will  be  restored  and  made  a 
permanent  feature  of  our  commercial  policy.  With,  per- 
haps, not  so  much  unanimity,  but  with  absolutely  as  much 
certainty,  the  high  monetary  standard  Republicanism  hai 
ever  represented  will  be  upheld  and  the  currency  and  bank- 
ing systems  well  preserved  and  perfected.  (Great  ap- 
plause.) 

I pass  all  these  matters  by  as  undebatable,  in  order  that 
I may  have  time  left  to  speak  a few  words  with  respect  to 
two  or  three  other  subjects,  concerning  which  the  Repub- 
lican party  will  have  a duty  to  discharge,  about  which  there 
may  not  be  so  much  unanimity,  though  I hope  there  may 
be.  The  first  of  these  in  both  thought  and  importance  is 
our  merchant  marine.  (Applause.)  This  is  a vast  and  a 
complicated  subject,  impossible  to  be  elaborately  discussed, 


88 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


or  discussed  at  all,  in  any  proper  sense  gf  the  word,  in  an 
after-dinner  speech.  I do  not  refer  to  it,  therefore,  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  it,  but  only  that  I may,  if,  happily, 
I may  be  able  to  do  so,  favorably  attract  attention  to  it. 
Speaking  upon  it  in  this  way  allow  me  to  remind  you  that 
when  our  fathers  had  achieved  our  political  independence, 
and  had  organized  our  government,  they  recognized  that 
their  work  was  not  done.  They  at  once  undertook  the  work 
of  securing  our  individual  and  commercial  independence 
also.  They  succeeded.  They  accomplished  their  purpose 
by  simply  applying  the  principles  of  protection  to  both  land 
and  sea.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the  wonders  wrought  in 
the  development  of  our  resources  through  the  agency  of 
protective  duties  on  imports,  but  apparently  only  the  lim- 
ited few  are  aware  that  our  achievements  at  home  had  their 
complete  counterpart  on  the  water.  The  basic  proposition 
on  which  the  fathers  proceeded  was  that  it  should  be  made 
advantageous  to  carry  goods  in  American-built  ships. 
(Cries  of  “Good.”)  To  that  end  they  resorted  to  discrimi- 
nating duties  in  tariff  and  tonnage.  The  result  was  a 
phenomenal  development  in  ship-building  and  a marine 
that  carried  under  the  American  flag  at  one  time  more  than 
ninety  per  cent,  of  our  imports  and  almost  as  large  a per- 
centage of  our  exports.  But,  as  bad  luck  would  have  it, 
they  had  the  theorist  with  them  in  that  day  as  we  have  him 
with  us  in  this,  and  then,  as  now,  his  favorite  theme  was 
free  trade.  He  succeeded  in  persuading  Congress  to  agree 
with  him,  and,  as  a result,  by  a series  of  enactments  ending 
in  1828,  the  last  vestige  of  protection  for  American  shipping 
was  removed. 

The  seductive  phrase  then  employed  was  not  “the  mar- 
kets of  the  world,”  or  “tariff  reform,”  but  “reciprocal  lib- 
erty of  commerce.”  But  it  meant,  as  these  modern  phrases 
do,  simply  free  trade — free  trade  on  the  ocean — and  the 
application  of  the  doctrine  when  made  brought  to  Amer- 
ican shipping  the  same  blight  that  has  ever  attended  the 


"the  republican  party/”  89 

application  of  that  doctrine  in  our  experience.  Decline 
at  once  set  in,  and  thirty  per  cent,  of  our  foreign  carriage 
had  been  lost  when  the  war  came  that  swept  away  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  more  of  it.  The  work  of  saving  the  Union 
and  solving  the  great  problems  growing  out  of  that  strug- 
gle, the  problems  of  emancipation,  enfranchisement,  recon- 
struction, and  specie  resumption,  so  pressed  upon  and  occu- 
pied the  Republican  party  that  it  had  no  opportunity  to 
properly  address  itself  to  this  subject  until  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
first  administration  was  over. 

Had  President  Harrison  been  re-elected,  the  probabili- 
ties are  that  something  effective  would  have  been  done  ere 
this ; but  he  was  not  re-elected,  and  the  tide  had  relent- 
lessly run  against  us,  until  we  now  carry  only  twelve  or 
thirteen  per  cent,  of  our  foreign  trade.  It  can  scarcely  be 
said  that  we  have  any  longer  an  American  marine.  There 
are  a number  of  views  in  which  this  is  both  discreditable 
and  unfortunate.  In  the  first  place  there  is  the  patriotic 
view,  the  pride  every  American  should  feel  in  seeing  his 
country’s  flag  in  all  the  waters  of  the  world.  And  then 
there  is  the  naval  review,  a nursery  of  seamen  to  man  our 
battle  ships  in  time  of  war;  and  then  who  can  over-esti- 
mate the  value  of  the  employment  it  would  afford  to  our 
people  and  our  capital,  or  the  indirect  advantages  that 
would  result  to  us  from  the  prestige  it  would  give  us  in  our 
trade  relations. 

But  consider  here  for  this  evening  only  one  feature  of  it, 
the  direct  indisputable  financial  results.  Careful  estimates 
show  that  we  are  paying  annually  more  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  in  gold  to  foreign  ships  for  the 
transportation  of  freight  and  passengers,  every  dollar  of 
which  should  and  would  be  paid  to  ourselves  if  our  mer- 
chant marine  was  what  it  once  was,  or  what,  if  we  do  our 
duty,  it  will  be  again.  (Applause.) 

It  has  been  computed  that  within  the  last  thirty  years  we 
have  paid  out  in  this  way  more  than  five  times  the  amount 


90 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


of  all  the  gold  balances  which  we  have  been  compelled  to 
export.  It  has  gone  far  enough.  The  time  has  come  to 
change  it.  What  is  the  remedy?  A great  many  have  been 
suggested,  some  good,  some  otherwise.  I have  no  time 
here  to  enter  upon  the  discussion  of  them,  for  the  reasons 
I have  already  given  you,  and,  therefore,  I content  myself 
with  the  simple  declaration  that  the  time  has  come  for  this 
great  question  to  receive  heroic  treatment.  Temporizing 
expedients  will  no  longer  answer. 

The  first  starting  point  in  the  whole  business  is  for  us  to 
plant  ourselves  upon  the  broad,  underlying,  patriotic  prop- 
osition that  we  will  not  buy  but  build  our  ships.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

The  brand  of  America  must  be  impressed  upon  every 
timber  of  every  craft  we  sail  (applause),  and  we  must  not 
relax  our  efforts  until  the  United  States  flag  again  floats 
over  ninety  per  cent,  of  our  merchant  marine.  (Cries  of 
“Bravo !”)  Some  necessary  bounties  and  subsidies  and 
subventions  are  good  enough  in  their  way,  but  they  are  dis- 
tasteful to  the  American  people,  and  I have  no  faith  in  any 
policy  that  depends  upon  them.  The  practice  of  the  found- 
ers of  the  Republic  was  wiser  and  better.  Let  us  return  to 
it.  Let  us  profit  by  their  wisdom  and  experience.  Dis- 
crimination in  tariff  tonnage  duties  worked  wonders  once. 
It  will  do  it  again.  Put  bounties  on  American  ships.  Sub- 
ject the  free  list  of  imports  to  the  condition  that  they  are 
brought  into  our  harbors  in  American  bottoms,  under  the 
American  flag.  (Applause.)  Allow  a rebate  of  ten  per 
cent,  on  all  dutiable  goods  of  our  own  carriage.  (Ap- 
plause.) And  when  we  come  to  a treaty  of  reciprocity, 
engraft  upon  it  as  one  of  its  provisions  that  the  goods  men- 
tioned in  the  treaty  shall  have  the  benefits  of  the  treaty 
only  on  condition  that  they  be  carried  in  the  ships  of  the 
reciprocating  countries.  (Applause.)  Protect  American 
marine  insurance  and  American  shipping  from  the  tyranny, 
the  oppression,  the  injustice  that  have  been  practiced  by 


"the  republican  party/"’  91 

foreign  marine  insurance  for  the  third  of  a century,  and 
the  work  is  done.  (Applause.)  But,  says  someone,  there 
are  treaty  stipulations  standing  in  the  way  of  some  of  these 
suggestions.  That  is  true  as  to  some  of  them,  but  that 
only  suggests  the  starting  point  in  this  patriotic  work. 
We  have  experimented  with  this  condition  of  things  long 
enough.  If  There  be  anything  standing  in  the  way  it  must 
be  modified  or  abrogated.  That  is  our  right;  that  is  our 
privilege;  that  is  our  duty  toward  the  American  people. 
In  short,  it  must  be  understood,  and  that  is  all  I want  to 
say  about  it,  that  America  must  be  free  to  take,  and  hold, 
and  enjoy  her  rightful  place  on  the  oceans  that  belong  in 
common  to  all  the  nations  of  the  world.  (Great  applause.) 

And  now,  hand  in  hand  with  that,  goes  another  duty,  a 
duty  that  every  patriotic  heart  should  sanction,  a duty  that 
has  been  impressed  upon  us  by  recent  events.  We  must 
not  only  recover  our  merchant  marine,  but  we  must  have  a 
navy  able  to  protect  it  and  to  command  respect  for  the  flag 
wherever  it  is.  (Great  applause.) 

And  as  a fit  complement  of  an  American  marine  and  an 
American  navy,  we  should  at  once  build  an  American  ship 
canal  across  Nicaragua.  (Applause.)  It  is  incompre- 
hensible that  the  American  people  should  have  been  con- 
tent themselves  until  now,  when  sailing  ships  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast  to  go  ten  thousand  miles  out 
of  the  way,  around  the  Horn,  through  tempestuous  seas, 
and  inclement  seasons.  The  commerce  of  the  world  de- 
mands the  building  of  that  canal,  and  if  we  do  not  build  it 
somebody  else  will  build  it.  Every  suggestion  of  patriotism 
prompts  and  commends  us  to  the  work.  (Applause.)  We 
should  not  only  build  it,  but  control  it.  No  one  else  should 
have  any  co-partnership  in  it  with  us.  (Applause.)  It 
should  be  open  to  the  free  use  for  all  peaceful  purposes  of  all 
other  nations,  subject  to  the  condition  that  they  pay  such 
reasonable  tolls  as  we  may  see  fit  to  exact.  (Applause.) 

These,  my  Republican  friends,  not  to  detain  you  longer, 


92 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


are  three  majestic  works.  They  are  worthy  of  the  party 
that  saved  the  Union  and  gave  to  immortality  the  great 
names  of  Lincoln  and  Grant.  (Applause.)  Their  under- 
taking will  be  a fit  crowning  to  the  closing  century,  and 
their  consummation  will  bring  wealth,  power,  happiness, 
honor,  glory,  magnificence  and  grandeur  to  the  American 
people,  and  so  entrench  the  Republican  party  in  the  hearts 
of  all  this  people  that  neither  you  nor  I will  live  long  enough 
to  see  another  Democratic  President.  (Cries  of  “Good!” 
and  applause,  and  “Three  cheers  for  Foraker!”) 


“ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.” 

Response  by  Chauncey  M.  Depew  at  a dinner  by  the  Republican  Club  of  New 
York,  February  1 2,  1896. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: 

Celebrations  of  the  anniversaries  of  heroes  and  states- 
men, of  battlefields  and  significant  events,  have,  as  a rule, 
only  an  historical  interest.  They  lack  the  freshness  and 
passion  of  touch  and  attachment.  It  has  always  been  the 
habit  of  peoples  to  deify  their  heroes.  After  a few  genera- 
tions they  are  stripped  of  every  semblance  to  humanity. 
We  can  reach  no  plane  where,  after  the  lapse  of  ioo  years, 
we  can  view  George  Washington  as  one  of  ourselves.  He 
comes  to  us  so  perfect,  full-rounded,  and  complete  that  he 
is  devoid  of  the  defects  which  make  it  possible  for  us  to  love 
greatness.  The  same  is  largely  true  of  all  the  Revolution- 
ary worthies,  except  that  the  Colonial  Dames  have  raised — 
or  lowered — Benjamin  Franklin  to  the  level  of  our  vision  by 
deciding  that  he  was  so  human  that  his  descendant  in  the 
fourth  generation  is  unworthy  of  their  membership.  Thank 
Heaven,  we  can  still  count  as  one  of  ourselves,  with  his 
humor  and  his  sadness,  with  his  greatness  and  his  every- 
day homeliness,  with  his  wit  and  his  logic,  with  his  gentle 
chivalry  that  made  him  equal  to  the  best-born  knight,  and 
his  awkward  and  ungainly  ways  that  made  him  one  of  the 


“ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.”  93 

plain  people,  our  martyred  President,  our  leader  of  the 
people,  Abraham  Lincoln.  (Applause.) 

The  Revolutionary  War  taught  liberty  from  the  top 
down;  the  Civil  War  taught  liberty  from  the  people  up  to 
the  colleges  and  the  pulpits.  The  Revolutionary  struggle 
was  the  revolt  of  property  against  unjust  taxation  until  it 
evoluted  into  independence.  It  was  the  protest  of  the 
leaders  in  commercial,  industrial  and  agricultural  pursuits 
against  present  and  prospective  burdens.  Sublime  as  were 
its  results,  and  beneficial  as  was  the  heritage  which  it  left 
behind,  there  was  a strong  element  of  materialism  in  its  gen- 
esis and  motive.  The  Civil  War  threw  to  the  winds  every 
material  consideration  in  the  magnificent  uprising  of  a great 
and  prosperous  people  moved  to  make  every  sacrifice  for 
patriotism,  for  country,  and  for  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
bondmen.  The  leaders  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle  rep- 
resented Colonial  success.  Washington  was  the  richest 
man  in  the  United  States.  Jefferson  and  Hamilton,  Jay 
and  the  Adamses  were  the  best  products  of  the  culture  of 
American  colleges  and  of  opportunity.  In  the  second 
period,  when  the  contest  was  for  the  supremacy  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  preservation  of  the  Union  against  the  destruct- 
ive tendencies  of  State  rights,  Daniel  Webster  and  Henry 
Clay  represented  the  American  farmers’  sons,  who  had  also 
received  the  benefits  of  liberal  education.  In  the  third 
period  the  protest  against  the  extension  of  slavery — the 
war  for  the  Union,  with  the  contributions  which  came  to 
our  statesmanship  from  the  newly  settled  territories,  we 
had  the  heroes  born  in  the  log  cabins.  Their  surroundings 
and  deprivations  were  not  those  of  poverty,  but  of  struggle. 
The  great  leader  was  born  in  the  log  cabin.  A little  clear- 
ing in  the  wilds  of  Kentucky,  a shiftless  wandering  to  In- 
diana, and  a repetition  of  the  experience,  another  shiftless 
movement  to  Illinois,  with  no  better  results,  a neighborhood 
of  rough,  ignorant,  drinking  and  quarreling  young  men, 
and  with  no  advantages  of  books,  of  household  teachings, 


94 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


of  church  influences,  of  gentle  companionship — these  were 
the  environments  from  which  came,  without  stain,  the 
purest  character,  the  noblest,  the  most  self-sacrificing  and 
the  loftiest  statesman  of  our  country  or  of  any  country. 
(Applause.) 

The  age  of  miracles  has  passed,  and  yet,  unless  he  can 
be  accounted  for  upon  well-defined  principles,  Lincoln  was 
a miracle.  At  twenty  years  of  age,  dressed  in  skins,  never 
having  known  a civilized  garment,  he  was  the  story-teller 
of  the  neighborhood,  the  good-natured  giant  who,  against 
rough  and  cruel  companions,  used  his  great  strength  to  de- 
fend the  weak  and  protect  the  oppressed.  He  thirsted  for 
knowledge,  and  yet  was  denied  the  opportunities  for  its 
acquisition,  and  he  exhausted  the  libraries  for  miles  around, 
whose  resources  were  limited  to  five  volumes,  “Pilgrim’s 
Progress,”  “Robinson  Crusoe,”  “Weems’  Washington,”  a 
short  history  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Bible.  As  a 
laborer  upon  the  farm  he  was  not  a success,  because  he 
diverted  his  fellow-laborers  from  their  work  with  his  mar- 
velous gift  of  anecdote  and  his  habit  of  mounting  a stump 
and  eloquently  discussing  the  questions  of  the  day.  As  a 
flatboatman  upon  the  Mississippi  he  was  not  a success, 
because,  while  he  was  among  the  class  which  delighted  to 
call  itself  half-horse  and  half-alligator  in  the  mad  debauches 
on  the  route  and  in  New  Orleans,  he  was  not  of  them.  As 
the  keeper  of  a country  store  he  was  not  a success,  because 
his  generous  nature  could  not  refuse  credit  to  the  poor 
who  could  never  pay.  As  a surveyor  he  was  a failure,  be- 
cause his  mind  was  upon  other  and  larger  questions  than 
the  running  of  a boundary  line.  As  a lawyer  he  was  suc- 
cessful only  after  many  years  of  practice,  because,  unless 
he  was  enlisted  for  right  and  justice,  he  could  not  give  to 
the  case  either  his  eloquence  or  his  judgment.  As  a mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  he  made  little  mark,  for 
the  questions  were  not  such  as  stirred  his  mighty  nature. 
As  a member  of  Congress  he  came  to  the  front  only  once, 


“ABRAHAM  LINCOLN."  95 

and  then  on  the  unpopular  side.  The  country  was  wild  for 
war,  or  the  acquisition  of  territory  by  conquest,  and  for  an 
invasion  of  the  neighboring  Republic  of  Mexico.  When 
to  resist  the  madness  of  the  hour  meant  the  present,  and 
perhaps  permanent,  annihilation  of  political  prospects, 
among  the  few  who  dared  to  rise  and  protest  against  war, 
and  especially  an  unjust  one,  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  orators  of  all  times  have  had  previous  orators  for 
their  models;  but  Lincoln  formed  his  style  by  writing  com- 
positions with  a piece  of  charcoal  upon  shingles  or  upon  the 
smooth  side  of  a wooden  shovel,  and  copying  them  after- 
ward upon  paper.  In  this  school,  poverty  of  resources 
taught  Lincoln  condensation  and  clearness,  and  he  learned 
the  secret  of  success  in  appealing  to  the  people — that  is, 
directness  and  lucidity.  Caesar  had  it  when  he  cried: 
“Veni,  vidi,  vici!”  Luther  had  it  when  he  cried:  “Here  I 
stand;  I can  do  no  other;  God  help  me.  Amen.”  Crom- 
well had  it  when  he  cried  to  his  soldiers:  “Put  your  trust 
in  God  and  keep  your  powder  dry.”  Napoleon  had  it 
when,  before  the  Battle  of  the  Pyramids,  he  called  upon 
his  soldiers  to  remember  that  forty  centuries  looked  down 
upon  them.  Patrick  Henry  had  it  when  he  uttered  those 
few  sentences  which  have  been  the  inspiration  of  the  school 
books  since  the  Colonial  days.  Webster  had  it  when  he 
said,  “Union  and  liberty,  one  and  inseparable,  now  and 
forever.”  Grant  had  it  when  he  said,  “I  will  fight  it  out 
on  this  line  if  it  takes  all  summer.”  And  Lincoln  had  it 
when  he  drew  to  him  his  people  and  the  men  and  women  of 
his  country  by  the  tender  pleadings  of  his  first  inaugural, 
by  the  pathetic,  almost  despairing,  appeal  of  his  second  in- 
augural, and  by  that  speech  at  Gettysburg  which  made 
every  hero  who  had  died  a soldier  again  in  the  person  of 
a new  hero  created  to  take  his  place  by  that  marvelous 
invocation.  He  expressed  in  a single  sentence  the  prin- 
ciple and  the  policy  of  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  and  the 
supremacy  of  the  United  States  upon  the  North  American 


96 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


Continent  when  he  said,  “The  Mississippi  shall  go  unvexed 
to  the  sea.”  He  added  to  the  list  of  his  immortal  utterances 
which  go  down  the  ages  to  lead  each  new  generation  to 
higher  planes  of  duty  and  patriotism,  “With  malice  toward 
none;  with  charity  for  all.” 

The  reception  held  by  the  President  day  by  day  was  a 
series  of  amusing  or  affecting  scenes.  He  at  once  satisfied 
and  reconciled  an  importunate  but  life-long  friend  who 
wanted  a mission  to  a distant  but  unhealthy  country  by 
saying,  when  all  arguments  failed,  “Strangers  die  there 
soon,  and  I have  already  given  the  position  to  a gentle- 
man whom  I can  better  spare  than  you.”  But  when  a lit- 
tle woman  whose  scant  raiment  and  pinched  features  indi- 
cated the  struggle  of  respectability  with  poverty,  secured, 
after  days  of  effort,  an  entrance  to  his  presence,  he  said : 
“Well,  my  good  woman,  what  can  I do  for  you?”  She 
replied,  “My  son,  my  only  child,  is  a soldier.  His  regi- 
ment was  near  enough  our  house  for  him  to  take  a day 
and  run  over  and  see  his  mother.  He  was  arrested  as  a 
deserter  when  he  re-entered  the  lines  and  condemned  to  be 
shot,  and  he  is  to  be  executed  to-morrow.”  Hastily  arising 
from  his  chair,  the  President  left  behind  Senators  and 
Congressmen  and  generals,  and  seizing  this  little  woman 
by  the  hand  he  dragged  her  on  a run  as  with  great  strides 
he  marched  with  her  to  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 
She  could  not  tell  where  the  regiment  then  was,  or  at 
what  place,  or  in  what  division  the  execution  was  to  take 
place,  and,  Stanton,  who  had  become  wearied  with  the 
President’s  clemency,  which,  he  said,  destroyed  discipline, 
begged  the  President  to  drop  the  matter;  but  Mr.  Lincoln, 
rising,  said  with  vehemence,  “I  will  not  be  balked  in  this. 
Send  this  message  to  every  headquarters,  every  fort,  and 
every  camp  in  the  United  States : ‘Let  no  military  execu- 
tion take  place  until  further  orders  from  me.  A.  Lincoln.’  ” 
(Applause.) 

He  called  the  Cabinet  to  meet*  and  as  they  entered 


“ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.”  97 

they  found  him  reading  Artemus  Ward.  He  said:  “Gen- 
tlemen, I have  found  here  a most  amusing  and  interesting 
book  which  has  entertained  and  relieved  me.  Let  me  read 
from  a new  writer,  Artemus  Ward.’’  Chase,  who  never 
understood  him,  in  his  impatient  dignity,  said:  “Mr.  Presi- 
dent, we  are  here  upon  business.”  The  President  laid  down 
the  book,  opened  a drawer  of  his  desk,  took  out  a paper, 
and  said,  “Gentlemen,  I wash  to  read  you  this  paper,  not 
to  ask  your  opinion  as  to  what  I shall  do,  for  I am  deter- 
mined to  issue  it,  but  to  ask  your  criticism  as  to  any  change 
of  form  or  phraseology,”  and  the  paper  which  he  read  was 
the  immortal  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  which  struck 
the  shackles  from  the  limbs  of  4,000,000  of  slaves.  And 
when  the  Cabinet,  oppressed  and  overwhelmed  by  the 
magnitude  of  this  deed  about  to  be  done,  went  solemnly  out 
of  the  room,  as  the  last  of  them  looked  back  he  saw  this 
strangest,  saddest,  wisest,  most  extraordinary  of  rulers  again 
reading  Artemus  Ward. 

To-day,  for  the  first  time  since  Lincoln’s  death,  the 
twelfth  of  February  is  a legal  holiday  in  our  State  of  New 
York.  And  it  is  proper  that  the  people  should,  without 
regard  to  their  party  affiliations,  celebrate  in  a becoming 
manner  the  birth  and  the  story  and  the  achievements  of  this 
savior  of  the  Republic.  But  it  is  equally  meet  and  proper 
for  us  who  are  gathered  here  as  Republicans  to  celebrate, 
also,  the  deeds  and  the  achievements  and  the  character  of 
the  greatest  Republican  who  ever  lived.  This  party  to 
which  we  belong,  this  great  organization  of  which  we  are 
proud,  this  mighty  engine  in  the  hands  of  Providence  for 
the  accomplishment  of  more  for  the  land  in  which  it  has 
worked  than  any  party  in  any  representative  government 
ever  accomplished  before,  has  its  teachings  and  inspirations 
more  largely  from  the  statesmanship  and  utterances  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  than  from  any  other  man.  The  first 
speech  he  ever  made  was  a speech  for  that  policy  which 
was  the  first  policy  of  George  Washington,  the  first  pol- 


98 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


icy  of  the  greatest  creative  brain  of  the  Revolutionary  per- 
iod, Alexander  Hamilton,  the  principle  of  the  protection 
of  American  industries.  With  that  keen  and  intuitive  grasp 
of  public  necessity  and  of  the  future  growth  of  the  Re- 
public, which  has  always  characterized  Lincoln,  he  saw  in 
early  life  that  this  country,  under  a proper  system  of  pro- 
tection, could  become  self-supporting;  he  saw  that  a land 
of  raw  materials  was  necessarily  a land  of  poverty,  while  a 
land  of  diversified  industries,  each  of  them  self-sustaining 
and  prosperous,  was  a land  of  colleges  and  schools,  a land 
of  science  and  literature,  a land  of  religion  and  law,  a land 
of  prosperity,  happiness,  and  peace.  (Applause.) 

Abraham  Lincoln  would  draw  the  last  dollar  the  coun- 
try possessed  and  draft  the  last  man  capable  of  bearing 
arms  to  save  the  Republic.  He  would  use  any  currency  by 
which  the  army  could  be  kept  in  the  field  and  the  navy 
upon  the  seas.  When  the  peril  was  so  great  that  our 
promise  to  pay  only  yielded  thirty  cents  on  the  dollar,  he 
prevented  the  collapse  of  our  credit  and  the  ruin  of  our 
cause  by  pledging  the  National  faith  to  the  payment  of 
our  debts  and  the  redemption  of  our  notes  and  bills  at  par 
in  money  recognized  in  the  commerce  of  the  world.  The 
Republican  party  stands  for  a policy  which  will  furnish 
abundant  revenue  for  every  requirement  of  the  government, 
and  which  will  maintain  the  credit  of  the  United  States  at 
home  and  abroad  up  to  the  standard  which  is  justified  by 
its  unequalled  wealth  and  power. 

All  hail  the  spirit,  all  hail  the  principles,  all  hail  the 
example,  the  inspiring  example,  of  that  man  of  the  people, 
that  wisest  of  rulers,  that  most  glorious  of  Republicans, 
Abraham  Lincoln!  (Prolonged  applause.) 


"dinners.” 


99 


"DINNERS.” 

Response  by  John  B.  Green,  of  New  York,  at  a “stag”  dinner  of  Common- 
wealth Council,  R.  A.,  at  the  Clarendon  Hotel,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 

in  the  winter  of  i88s-’86. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Brethren: 

If  there  is  any  subject  upon  which  I have  more  qualifi- 
cations to  speak  than  another,  it  is  dinners.  My  recollec- 
tion runs  not  far  enough  into  the  past  to  say  when  my 
experience  of  dining  began.  I can  only  speak  of  Brooklyn 
for  five  years.  Of  government,  my  profession,  and  kindred 
topics,  I have  learned  almost  all  that  I know  since  my  man- 
hood began.  I had  to  be  taught  to  read  before  I knew 
anything  of  the  "Press,”  and  the  "Army  and  Navy”  were 
mere  names  to  me,  until  one  April  morning  nearly  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  my  mother  pinned  a tri-colored  rosette  upon 
my  jacket  to  show  loyalty  to  the  flag  just  fired  upon  by  its 
own  sons.  Let  me  talk,  then,  of  what  I know  best — eating 
was  always  natural  to  me.  The  only  other  subject  of  which 
I know  anything  like  as  much — "The  Ladies” — is,  fortun- 
ately for  you  and  for  me,  committed  to  a wittier  tongue. 

It  has  been  recorded  that  "the  art  of  eating  and  drink- 
ing took  its  rise  amid  the  mists  of  the  remotest  antiquity;” 
and  that  "its  history  is  coeval  with  that  of  the  race.”  There 
have  been  dinners  that  live  in  history:  the  banquet  at  which 
Cleopatra  dissolved  in  wine  a pearl  worth  a king’s  ransom, 
and  the  feasts  of  Lucullus  will  be  remembered  as  long  as 
Marathon  and  Waterloo — battles  decisive  of  the  fate  of 
nations.  Who  does  not  recall  mental  pictures  of  the  great 
baronial  dining  halls  in  the  "stately  homes  of  England,” 
those  schools  of  chivalric  courtesy  and  gentle  breeding? 
Many  a deed  the  world  has  admired  was  inspired  by  the 
lessons  learned  there.  There  is  the  wounded  knight  borne 
back  from  the  hot  fight  at  Zutphen  in  that  long  struggle 
for  civil  and  religious  liberty  in  the  Netherlands  handing 
his  water-flask,  just  lifted  to  quench  his  own  raging  thirst, 


IOO 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


to  a dying  soldier,  with  the  remark,  “Thy  necessity  is  even 
greater  than  mine,”  and  drinking  his  health  afterwards. 
Yet  Sir  Philip  Sidney  learned  this  grace  at  the  dinners  in 
his  father’s  hall.  Poets  have  sung  of  dinners.  A modern 
one  takes  his  hero,  summoned  to  go  on  with  an  old  love 
before  he  is  off  with  a new,  over  the  blue  Pyrenees,  through 
some  of  the  loveliest  of  national  scenery,  through  a region 
rich  with  legends  of  the  heroic  age,  and  for  the  most  part 
in  company  with  a rival;  to  break  forth  at  the  end,  not 
with  love  or  jealousy;  not  of  mountain  peaks  and  sunny 
valleys;  not  of  paladins  and  peers,  the  rent  horn  of  Roland 
and  his  bursting  nostrils,  his  sword  cleaving  the  rock,  but 
upon  our  theme: 

“O  hour  of  all  hours,  the  most  bless’d  upon  earth, 

Blessed  hour  of  our  dinners ! 

The  land  of  his  birth ; 

The  face  of  his  first  love ; the  bills  that  he  owes ; 

The  twaddle  of  friends  and  the  venom  of  foes; 

The  sermon  he  heard  when  to  church  he  last 
went ; 

The  money  he  borrow’d,  the  money  he  spent; — 

All  these  things  a man.  I believe,  may  forget, 

And  not  be  the  worse  for  forgetting ; but  yet 

Never,  never,  O never ! Earth’s  luckiest  sinner 

Hath  unpunished  forgotten  the  hour  of  his 
dinner ! 

Indigestion,  that  conscience  of  every  bad  stom- 
ach, 

Shall  relentlessly  gnaw  and  pursue  him  with  some 
ache 

Or  some  pain ; and  trouble,  remorseless,  his  best 
ease, 

As  the  furies  once  troubled  the  sleep  of  Orestes.” 

When  these  lights  have  gone  out  and  the  melancholy 
gentlemen  in  dress  suits,  whose  labors  in  serving  us  have 
compelled  them  to  keep  sober,  regretfully  agitate  these 
soundless  bottles  and  bottoms  upward  the  glasses  you  have 
drained;  when  this  joyous  company,  with  clove-laden 
breaths,  segregates  in  the  cold  grey  morning,  and  its  mem- 
bers seek  repose,  beside  their  indignant  wives,  may  we  be 


“the  ladies/'  ioi 

each  ready  to  say,  if  asked,  “Have  you  ever  enjoyed  a 
better  dinner?"  as  was  said,  by  a gentleman  at  an  evening 
party,  in  reply  to  the  exclamation  of  a bystander,  “Well, 
did  you  ever  see  the  like?"  as  a lady  dressed  in  the  lowest 
style  swept  by,  “Never,  that  is,  since  I was  weaned." 


“THE  LADIES.” 

Response  by  John  B.  Green  of  New  York,  at  a banquet  at  Westfield,  N.  J.,  in 
celebration  of  her  iooth  birthday. 

Some  months  ago,  when  the  dinner  committee  notified 
the  speakers  of  the  toasts  they  were  expected  to  respond  to 
to-night,  in  common  with  the  gentlemen  who  have  already 
been  heard,  I began  to  write  a speech  that  it  might  be  ready 
for  the  dress  rehearsal  that  was  to  have  been  had  last  Satur- 
day night  down  at  the  North  Avenue  Hotel.  I don’t  know 
why  that  rehearsal  did  not  take  place.  I was  unable  myself 
to  attend,  in  consequence  of  an  important  engagement  with 
my  nearest  neighbor  to  organize  in  town  a new  club  for 
the  promotion  of  skill  and  recreation  in  the  noble  and 
scientific  pastime  of  mumble-te-peg  to  fill  a long-felt  want  in 
Westfield  which  existing  associations  are  unwilling  or  lack 
the  means  to  supply.  I have  understood,  however,  that  Mr. 
Grogan  objected  upon  the  ground  that  he  had  to  maintain 
a justly  earned  reputation  for  keeping  a quiet,  orderly  place 
and  could  not  afford  to  put  it  in  jeopardy.  He  felt  con- 
vinced that  if  as  many  people  came  together  for  any  pur- 
pose in  Westfield  there  was  certain  to  be  a row  and  he 
would  not  run  any  risk.  So  the  project  had  to  be  aban- 
doned, and  you  see  the  result  in  several  of  the  speakers 
having  taken  double  the  time  they  should  in  delivering 
their  addresses.  The  orators  who  did  assemble  on  that 
occasion  are  said  to  have  sadly  made  their  way  over  to  Mr. 
Shove’s  drug  store,  and  with  that  recklessness  of  personal 
safety  that  characterized  the  urchin  who  was  discovered  one 


102 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


summer  astride  of  a tombstone  in  a cemetery  eating  green 
apples  and  singing  “Nearer  My  God  to  Thee,”  to  have 
actually  dranK  some  of  his  soda  water.  I look  upon  that 
tale  as  apocryphal,  as  all  of  the  chosen  exhorters  are  here 
to-night  apparently  in  perfect  health. 

With  a flame-tipped  pen  that  traced  lines  that  burned 
holes  in  the  paper  as  the  blazing  words  sizzled  from  its  nib, 
I set  down  my  ideas  in  language  that  sparkled  and  corus- 
cated iridescent  with  living  color.  I wrote  about  a yard 
and  a half  of  speech  filled  with  majestic  thoughts  that 
moved  by  stately  marches,  and  in  such  brilliant  array  that 
the  soaring  eagle  able  to  gaze  unwinkingly  at  the  noon-day 
sun  could  not  look  upon  them  without  being  dazzled. 

Sad  as  it  is  to  confess  it,  the  truth  must  be  told.  I have 
parted  with  that  speech.  A listening  world  will  hearken  in 
vain  for  its  dulcet  tones.  Its  flute-like  melodies  are  forever 
hushed.  Tuned  to  lofty  symphony  its  grand  organ  notes 
are  silent  for  all  time  to  come. 

I was  deaf  to  the  claims  of  friendship  when  Geo.  Peek 
solicited  the  MSS.  to  “paper  the  house”  at  his  next  club 
entertainment,  because  I knew  that  no  matter  how  powerful 
the  attraction  he  might  offer  now,  after  his  outrageous  as- 
sault on  the  etiolated  morals  of  our  sons  and  brothers,  the 
indignant  matrons  and  maids  in  town  would  not  suffer  their 
husbands  and  sweethearts  to  attend.  And  I sternly  shut  my 
ears  to  the  pathetic  pleadings  of  the  editor-in-chief  of  the 
Standard  -who,  in  a voice  trembling  with  emotion,  begged 
me  for  the  copy  that  his  sanctum,  now  so  cold  and  dreary 
under  the  depressing  nightmare  of  Bill  Peaseley’s  attempts 
at  wit,  might  be  lighted  up  with  a cheerful  glow ; for  I could 
remind  your  uncle  Dudley  that  I had  once  in  a moment 
of  amiable  weakness  yielded  to  his  request  for  copy,  and 
he  had  no  sooner  got  it  in  his  office  than  it  set  fire  to  the 
place  and  destroyed  the  whole  block.  But  there  came  an 
appeal  that  I could  not  resist.  Mr.  Sergeant  wanted  that 


103 


"the  ladies/' 

speech,  and  the  king’s  request  is  a command,  so  with  tears 
in  my  eyes  I surrendered.  I sacrificed  my  only  chance  for 
fame  and  your  only  hope  of  exhilaration  at  this  feast  of 
reason  without  the  flowing  bowl.  He  wanted  to  blanket 
through  the  winter  a yard  and  a half  of  dog.  Wrapped  in 
that  rainbow  hued  mantle,  that  long  stretch  of  blue  Skye 
perambulates  the  Boulevard  nights,  nobly  supplementing 
the  deficiency  of  electric  lights  on  that  magnificent  thor- 
oughfare, until  every  Thomas  and  Maria  in  the  neighbor- 
hood ceases  courting  and  flees  in  terror  from  the  unearthly 
apparition ; while  the  sober  citizens  of  that  side  of  the  rail- 
road track,  who  on  rare  occasions  are  kept  out  late  by  the 
fascinations  of  fifteen-ball  'pool,  as  they  wend  their  tortuous 
way  homeward,  mistake  the  radiant  vision  for  the  aurora 
borealis  and  wonder  how  those  weird  streams  of  rosy  light 
got  so  far  south. 

So  I am  here  without  a speech,  and  I hope  you  will 
make  in  my  behalf  reasonable  allowance  for  the  marked 
superiority  of  my  fellow-speakers. 

Fortunately,  it  is  not  customary  on  such  occasions  as 
this  to  say  anything  about  the  sentiment  that  has  been  as- 
signed one  for  a text.  One  is  not  expected  to  even  allude 
to  his  toast.  You  noticed  that  each  of  the  speeches  you 
have  just  heard  and  enjoyed  so  much  would  have  fitted  as 
well  any  other  toast  than  the  one  it  was  hitched  to.  This  is 
not  the  fault  of  the  speakers,  because  the  men  who  write 
the  responses  and  supply  them  in  New  York  at  four  dollars 
a dozen  seldom  have  a chance  to  see  the  toasts  in  advance 
of  delivering  the  ordered  speeches.  But  apart  from  this, 
postprandial  speeches  are  all  built  on  the  model  of  Artemus 
Ward's  celebrated  lecture  on  “The  Babes  in  the  Wood,"  in 
which  that  renowned  humorist  made  but  one  reference  to 
his  subject,  and  that  was  when  he  closed  an  hour  and  a half 
of  talk  on  all  sorts  of  topics  by  saying,  “All  this  I might 

i 

* 


104- 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


have  said  had  not  the  subject  of  my  lecture  been,  “The 
Babes  in  the  Wood.” 

Still  I think  I ought  at  least  to  say  something  upon  the 
subject  assigned  me.  I went  a few  days  ago  to  the  New 
York  Bureau  for  supplying  after  dinner  speeches  in  the 
Tribune  building,  and  looked  over  the  stock  responses  to 
the  toast  “Woman,”  but  could  not  find  anything  that  was 
not  too  distinctly  Bacchanalian  and  Anacreontic  to  find 
favor  here,  and  have  despaired,  knowing  how  uninspiring 
mineral  water  is.  Yet  I would  not  willingly  subject  myself 
to  the  crushing  criticism  o»f  his  opponent  uttered  by  the 
God-like  Daniel  in  the  famous  debate  upon  Foote’s  land 
resolution,  when  he  said : “He  has  spoken  of  everything  but 
the  public  lands;  they  have  escaped  his  notice.  To  that 
subject  in  all  his  excursions  he  has  not  paid  even  the  cold 
tribute  of  a passing  glance.” 

It  is  more  than  two  centuries  and  a half  since  Rare  Ben 
Johnson  put  in  the  form  you  have  it  to-night  the  sentiment 
selected  for  me.  It  is  twelve  hundred  years  further  back  in 
time  since  Philostratus  wrote : “Drink  to  me  with  your  eyes 
alone.  And,  if  you  will,  take  the  cup  to  your  lips  and  fill 
it  with  kisses  and  give  it  so  to  me.”  But  earlier  than  that 
the  unrecorded  sentiment  had  its  birth,  for  the  like  thought 
must  have  thrilled  the  breast  of  Adam  when  for  the  first 
time  in  Eden,  the  eyes  of  the  mother  of  our  race  looked  in 
homage  at  her  lord.  And  throughout  the  ages  to  come, 
so  long  as  the  sons  of  Adam  woo  the  daughters  of  Eve, 
men  will  need  no  other  stimulant  to  lofty  purposes  and 
noble  deeds  than  that  unspoken  language  of  the  eyes  as 
soul  greets  soul  when  plighting  their  sacred  troth.  And 
we  may  believe,  reverently,  that  if  anything  earthly  is  re- 
served in  the  life  to  come  to  minister  to  human  happiness  it 
will  be  those  feelings  which  find  expression  as  she  drinks 
to  him  with  her  eyes  and  he  pledges  with  his.  I yield  to 
none  in  admiration  for  this  sentiment,  but  I must  remind 


10$ 


"the  ladies/' 

the  dinner  committee  that  the  stimulant  it  refers  to  cannot 
be  provided  to  order — cannot  be  bought  with  a price.  It 
is  a libation  not  poured  out  at  every  altar,  it  is  a rare  and 
precious  draught  whose  price  is  above  rubies.  It  is  drunk 
but  once  in  a lifetime  and  from  a Holy  Grail.  And  it  is  not 
in  public  that  one  lifts  to  his  lips  that  golden  chalice,  but 
in  the  dearest  spot  on  earth — home. 

It  is  best  typified  by  the  romantic  figure  of  She  who  has 
never  unveiled  her  matchless  beauty  to  any  but  the  Kal- 
licrates,  for  whose  coming  she  waited  in  unchanging  youth 
through  two  thousand  years,  hidden  from  the  world  in  the 
seclusion  of  the  caves  of  Kor. 

And  I think  that  the  sweetest  and  didst  wonderful 
melody  in  the  world  is  the  tender  song  of  the  mother  as  she 
hushes  her  infant  into  slumber,  but  the  music  is  caviare 
to  the  general.  Most  of  us  must  be  content  with  something 
lower,  and  to  hear  Patti  at  $5  a seat.  But  we  will  not  fail 
to  remember  while  we  listen  that  the  cantatrice  of  the  con- 
cert hall  is  no  more  a satisfactory  substitute  for  the  diva 
than  Apollinaris  is  for  champagne.  Pray  pardon  the  com- 
parison— I am  treading  on  forbidden  ground.  I would 
not  willingly  offend  you.  My  opinions  as  to  what  are  the 
proper  accompaniments  of  a public  dinner  are  well  known, 
and  while  I do  not  apologize  for  them,  I assure  you  I am 
not  a connoisseur  of  intoxicants.  I am  as  ignorant  of  their 
baleful  qualities  as  one  of  my  reverend  friends  in  town  was 
a short  time  ago  innocent  of  the  mellow  virtues  of  apple- 
jack. 

As  I dutifully  went  through  the  bill  of  fare,  that  we  have 
all,  I trust,  much  enjoyed,  without  having  the  opportunity 
of  following  St.  Paul's  advice  to  Timothy,  I sympathized 
with  a good  bishop  of  my  communion  who  had  been  enter- 
tained during  one  of  his  episcopal  visits  by  a family  of  total 
abstainers,  of  whom  he  afterwards  said  that  they  gave  him 
naught  but  water  to  drink  as  if  he  were  a horse.  But  I 


io6 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


noticed  with  pain  and  sadness  that  even  in  immaculate 
Westfield,  the  trail  of  the  serpent  is  over  it  all.  When 
Whittier  wrote 

“So  fallen!  so  lost!  the  light  withdrawn 
Which  once  he  wore ! 

The  glory  of  his  gray  hairs  gone, 

Forevermore !” 

lie  must  have  viewed  with  prophetic  eyes  this  scene  and 
thought  of  Westfield  once  proudly  marching  toward  the 
chill  heights  of  prohibition,  now  backsliding  by  a single 
weakness  and  heir  to  a lifelong  remorse.  Why!  oh,  why! 
was  not  that  fatal  sorbet  left  out  of  the  menu?  But  for 
that  one  concession  to  civilization  and  cultivated  taste  none 
could  have  outstripped  us  in  the  race  for  cold-water  honors 
where  we  were  facile  princeps.  That  sorbet  was  the  golden 
apple  dropped  on  purpose  to  stay  Atalanta  in  her  fleet  prog- 
ress toward  the  goal.  Some  other  community  more  sternly 
virtuous  will  now  take  our  stand  upon  a cairn  of  pure  ice 
at  the  North  Pole  of  total  abstinence,  and  throughout  the 
long  polar  night  from  her  arctic  eyrie  alone  survey  the  uni- 
verse of  stars. 


“GEORGE  WASHINGTON.” 

Response  by  John  B.  Green,  Esq.,  of  New  York  City,  at  a dinner  in  honor  of 
Washington’s  birthday,  at  Westfield,  N.  J.,  February  22  1894. 

We  meet  to  commemorate  the  birth  of  him  whose  name 
is  highest  in  the  estimation  of  all  Americans,  and  challenges 
the  love  and  admiration  of  the  rest  of  mankind,  the  general 
who  commanded  the  soldiery  of  our  people  through  the 
seven  years  of  travail  that  ended  when  the  greatest  nation 
of  the  West  was  born — the  statesman  who  guided  that 
nation  through  its  first  years  of  its  infant  life — the  patriot 
who  then  put  aside  all  further  civic  honors,  thereby  furnish- 
ing a lasting  example  to  his  successors  in  power  through- 
out remaining  time — George  Washington. 

It  has  seemed  to  us  especially  fitting  that  this  occasion 


“GEORGE  WASHINGTON."  I07 

should  be  honored  here  and  now ; that  the  lesson  of  Wash- 
ington’s life  should  be  more  deeply  graven  upon  our  hearts. 
As  there  were  kings  before  Agamemnon,  so  there  have 
been  heroes  since  Washington — Americans  whose  lives  and 
achievements  are  justly  held  in  honor  in  all  our  land,  but 
the  contemplation  of  the  virtues  of  Washington  and  the 
recalling  of  the  cause  he  served,  are  still  profitable  and  in 
many  communities  necessary  occupations. 

We  love  and  reverence  Washington  because  he  was  the 
lapidary  to  whose  labors  we  owe  the  brightiest  jewels  in 
modern  civilized  life — free  thought,  free  speech,  free  men. 
Because  he  was  the  champion  of  the  cause  of  the  whole 
people,  the  liberty  of  the  individual. 

The  world  loves  a good  soldier  and  admires  a brave 
man,  but  it  will  cherish  the  name  of  Washington  long  after 
it  has  forgotten  those  of  Alexander,  Farnese,  John  Churchill 
and  Richard  Neville.  The  Prince  of  Parma  was  a more 
accomplished  soldier,  yet  his  military  talents  were  enlisted 
in  behalf  of  the  most  intolerant  bigot  that  ever  from  a 
throne  made  war  upon  his  subjects.  The  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough, who  never  fought  a battle  that  he  did  not  win, 
nor  beleaguered  a town  that  he  did  not  take,  was  a more 
successful  general,  but  his  victories  were  won  only  that  the 
balance  of  power  in  Europe  might  be  maintained,  an  idea 
of  importance  to  none  but  monarchs.  And  Warwick,  the 
king-maker,  was  surely  not  less  courageous,  'when  last  of 
the  barons,  knowing  the  battle  was  on  to  the  death,  his 
sword  drank  the  life-blood  of  his  war  horse,  as  he  flung 
away  his  scabbard,  on  that  beautiful  Easter  day  in  1471, 
when  feudalism  made  its  final  stand  on  the  fatal  field  of 
Barnet. 

So  long  as  human  nature  is  what  it  is,  we  will  need  the 
inspiration  of  Washington.  There  were  many  men  who 
gave  their  lives  and  fortunes  for  civil  and  religious  liberty 
in  the  Netherlands,  but  of  only  one,  William  the  Silent,  has 


io8 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


history  written  that  he  "labored  to  produce  mutual  respect 
among  conflicting  opinions  when  many  dissenters  were  as 
bigoted  as  the  orthodox  and  when  most  Reformers  fiercely 
proclaimed  not  liberty  for  every  Christian  doctrine,  but  only 
a new  creed  in  place  of  ‘all  the  rest.’  ” The  people  of  Eng- 
land who  suffered  for  conscience  sake  the  fires  of  Smith- 
field  were  not  thereby  made  more  humane  toward  the 
Puritans,  and  almost  the  first  public  act  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  whom  we  laud  so  highly,  after  seeking  in  bleak 
New  England  freedom  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way, 
was  to  drive  Roger  Williams  forth  into  the  wilderness  for 
desiring  the  same  liberty  for  himself. 

We  cherish  the  hope  that  the  times  have  made  persecu- 
tion for  opinion’s  sake  obsolete,  and  your  presence  here, 
with  your  varied  views  of  life  and  duty  and  mutual  respect 
for  your  differences,  prove  the  hope  is  not  vain. 

Remember  how  much  we  owe  to  Washington  for  this 
happy  state  of  affairs.  It  is  a long  time  from  Galileo  to 
Tennyson,  but  the  distance  that  measures  the  course  of 
freedom  through  the  years  that  have  flowed  between  them 
is  greater  still.  Where  the  older  poet  of  science  timidly 
ventured  to  say  that  the  world  moves  the  later  minstrel 
sings,  "Let  the  great  world  spin  forever  down  the  ringing 
grooves  of  change.”  Go  with  the  planet  as  it  swings  its 
airy  course,  lighted  by  the  sun  of  progress,  or  be  crushed 
beneath  its  mighty  mass  as  it  rolls  irresistibly  forward. 


"DANGER  AHEAD !” 

Response  by  Henry  Wollman,  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  at  the  second  annual  ban- 
quet of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of  America,  at  Omaha,  Neb., 
August  1 8,  1896. 

Mr.  Toastmaster:  Politeness  and  vanity  prevent  me 

denying  your  statement  that  I am  a great  after-dinner 
speaker,  but  candor  compels  me  to  admit  that  I am  neither 
an  agreeable  nor  cheerful  "before-breakfast  talker.”  The 


"danger  ahead/'  109 

clock  shows  that  the  breakfast  hour  is  nearly  here.  I must 
confess  that  I am  usually  very  cross  and  surly  before  break- 
fast, so  you  must  prepare  to  suffer. 

I feel  grateful  to  you  for  the  very  prominent  position 
you  have  given  me  upon  this  programme.  I have  been 
taught  that  the  two  most  important  places  upon  a banquet 
programme  are  the  opening  and  the  closing  speeches,  and 
consequently  I feel  highly  flattered  that  you  have  asked 
me  to  respond  to  the  closing  toast.  I beg  you,  Mr.  Toast- 
master, not  to  shatter  my  conceit  by  telling  me  that  it  was 
not  done  by  design,  but  that  in  the  “shake-up”  it  just  hap- 
pened to  come  that  way.  Let  me  return  to  Kansas  City 
believing  it  was  an  honor  accorded  to  me  as  a tribute  to 
merit.  I desire  to  tell  my  friends  at  home  in  the  strictest 
confidence,  that  where  I was  the  least  known  I was  the 
most  appreciated,  as  we  are  told  was  the  case  with  prophets 
in  the  time  of  the  Bible. 

I regard  this  as  one  of  the  greatest  opportunities  of  my 
life.  It  certainly  is  a rare  occasion  where  a man  can  talk 
to  the  gentle  sex  and  have  them  situated  so  they  can’t  talk 
back.  Remembering  that  I am  still  a bachelor,  you  can 
readily  understand  how  thankful  I am  for  an  opportunity 
to  address  an  audience,  among  whom  are  such  lovely  young 
women  as  I see  before  me.  Recently  I delivered  an  address 
to  three  hundred  unmarried  school  teachers,  young  and 
old,  but  for  some  unexplained  reason  I have  since  found 
to  my  sorrow  that  I sowed  my  seed  on  fallow  soil,  and 
that  I would  have  to  try  farther  from  home,  so  following 
out  the  old  lesson  that  is  always  read  to  bachelors  about  a 
“faint  heart  and  a fair  lady” — I am  here.  I feel  that  to- 
night, with  so  many  generous  and  charitable  young  women 
in  my  audience,  I certainly  must  succeed,  for  should  I make 
a good  speech,  some  girl,  braver  than  the  rest,  will  cer- 
tainly accept  me  out  of  a spirit  of  admiration.  Should  I 
fail,  I know  that  in  the  kindness  and  the  loving  sympathy  of 


I IO 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


the  sex,  she  will  take  me,  because  she  pities  me.  So 
whether  I fail  or  succeed  at  speech-making,  I shall  have  ad- 
vanced my  matrimonial  prospects. 

I was  told  by  a friend  to-day  that  the  reason  I was  put 
upon  this  programme,  was  because  I was  said  to  be  such 
a witty  man.  After  I entered  this  magnificent  banquet  hall 
and  read  the  sentiment  affixed  to  the  subject  assigned  to 
me,  I felt  certain  that  that  must  have  been  the  reason.  I 
am  confident,  that  sentiment  could  never  have  been  given 
to  any  but  a witty  man.  Think  of  a real  wit  talking  in 
anything  but  a bright  and  happy  vein  on  that  exceedingly 
cheerful  subject,  “Danger  Ahead.” 

If  you  don’t  think  that  it  is  very  funny,  Mr.  Toast- 
master, when  you  return  to  your  hotel,  arouse  your  little  boy 
from  his  peaceful  slumbers  and  say,  “Charlie,  wake  up, 
there’s  danger  ahead !”  and  see  how  he  will  brighten  up, 
and  how  long  he  will  laugh.  To-morrow,  as  you  pass  down 
the  street,  walk  up  to  three  or  four  men  and  say  to  them, 
“Stop ! there’s  danger  ahead,”  and  see  how  gleefully  they 
will  smile  and  how  much  of  a joke  they  will  think  there  is 
in  the  announcement. 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  you  treated  the  others  better  than  you 
did  me.  As  I look  at  the  programme,  I find  that  nearly  all 
the  other  subjects  call  for  happy  and  witty  responses,  but 
mine,  “Danger  Ahead” — not  in  a thousand  years. 

There’s  “The  Uncertainty  of  the  Law” — it  pours  joy 
and  happiness  and  brings  smiles  and  laughter  eternal  into 
the  household  of  every  lawyer.  It  gives  us  our  bread,  our 
meat  and  drink.  Through  it  we  convert  the  darkness  of 
other  people’s  despair  into  the  sunshine  of  our  own  lives. 

“The  Making  of  the  Law.”  That  is  one  of  the  funniest 
subjects  ever  given  to  anybody  in  seriousness.  Every  man 
who  goes  to  the  Legislature  regards  it  as  a jolly  vacation  in 
a sunny  clime.  We,  who  are  called  upon  to  construe  the 
laws,  know  that  most  of  them  must  have  been  conceived  in 


“DANGER  AHEAD."  Ill 

a spirit  of  playful  humor.  It  has  often  been  said,  too,  that 
gladdening  things  have  touched  the  palms  of  legislators. 
For  my  part,  I can’t  believe  it;  and  yet  I must  admit  that 
I never  saw  a sad  or  sorrowful  face  in  a legislative  chamber. 

“Lawyer  and  Client."  A lawsuit  is  a circus,  the  judge 
is  the  ringmaster,  some  of  the  lawyers  are  the  bareback 
riders  doing  the  daring  feats  that  attract  the  crowd,  while 
others  of  the  lawyers  take  in  the  cash  at  the  box  office — 
the  litigants  are  said  to  be  the  clowns,  at  whom  the  con- 
course laughs — and  there’s  the  humor  of  it. 

“Law  and  Justice."  Now,  isn’t  that  a joke?  It  may 
not  strike  you  that  way  at  first,  but  think  of  it — law  and 
justice,  side  by  side.  When  the  toastmaster  locked  law 
and  justice  in  the  same  room,  he  did  it  to  be  funny.  He 
saw  there  must  be  a bloody  fight,  and  he  enjoys  the  sight 
of  blood. 

“Law,  a Progressive  Profession."  I have  heard  of 
progressive  consumption,  and  I have  always  been  told  that 
a man  who  Has  a first-class  lawsuit  had  a case  of  progressive 
consumption.  I can’t  imagine  what  that  subject  means, 
unless  it  is,  that  it  is  a misprint  on  the  programme,  and 
should  have  read,  “Law,  a Progressive  Consumption." 

“The  Commerce  of  the  Seas."  That  refers  to  the  busi- 
ness of  issuing  attachments  and  replevins  and  other  dread- 
ful writs,  under  which  commercial  lawyers  “seize."  There 
is  no  humor  in  that  subject — for  the  defendant;  it  is  always 
tragic  for  him,  unless  he  knows  you  are  coming,  and  then 
you  know  the  rest.  But  even  then  it  is  still  tragedy — only 
there  is  a change  of  tragedians. 

“The  Conservatism  of  the  Bar."  Every  lawyer’s  life 
training  makes  him  conservative,  and  from  the  awful 
examples  that  he  constantly  sees  of  the  direful  failures  of 
those  who  are  not  conservative  at  the  bar,  he  concludes 
that  while  liquor  and  champagne  brighten,  exhilarate  and 
set  us  aglow,  continuous  happiness  is  brought  about  by 


1 12 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


very  moderate  drinking,  or  what  you,  in  polite  language, 
would  call  conservatism  of,  or  at,  the  bar. 

'The  Ladies.”  At  a lawyers’  banquet  that  always  re- 
fers to  mothers-in-law.  The  mother-in-law  has  been  the 
cause  of  many  a lawsuit.  No  lawyer  could  afford  to  pass 
through  life  without  expressing  his  intense  gratitude  to  the 
mother-in-law,  for  she  has  furnished  our  profession,  directly 
and  indirectly,  so  much  profitable  and  high-class  business. 

“The  Press.”  Aye,  there’s  the  rub ! Whether  the  press 
produces  gladness  and  joy,  depends  a good  deal  on  the 
object  of  the  press.  If  she  be  kind  and  loving  and  manifests 
her  belief  in  reciprocity,  then  the  “press,”  I am  told,  is  de- 
lightful. But  if,  perchance,  she  should  resent  the  “press” — 
oh ! then  the  result  would  be  awful  to  contemplate.  Your 
refuge  then  would  either  be  a lawyer  to  keep  you  from 
a dungeon  vile,  or  to  a doctor  to  restore  your  Apollo-like 
face  to  its  accustomed  beauty — as  near  as  may  be.  The 
press  is  not  altogether  a witty  and  humorous  subject. 
Whether  it  is  or  not,  I would  say,  depends  entirely  upon  the 
“pressee.” 

And  now,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  you  can  see  how  unfairly 
you  have  treated  me  by  giving  everyone  else  a subject  out 
of  which  there  may  be  extracted  some  humor,  pleasure  or 
profit,  while  you  have  given  me  a heavy  tragedy  subject, 
out  of  which  to  extract  some  wit. 

(Mr.  Wollman  concluded  with  a dissertation,  in  a more 
serious  vein,  on  the  subject  and  danger  of  judges  accepting 
passes  or  other  favors  from  corporations,  or  in  any  way 
allowing  themselves  to  get  under  obligation  to  influences 
that  would  give  the  public  the  slightest  excuse  for  believing 
that  they  were  prejudiced  in  their  decisions,  and  urging 
that  they  should  keep  themselves,  like  Caesar’s  wife,  “above 
suspicion.” — Ed.) 


SPEECH  OF  JOHN  B.  GREEN. 


113 


SPEECH  OF  JOHN  B.  GREEN, 

President  of  the  Brooklyn  Republican  League,  at  the  dinner  in  honor  of  the 
birthday  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  at  Remsen  Hall,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
February  13,  1888. 

Gentlemen : We  meet  as  partisans,  frankly  avowing 

our  allegiance  to  the  Republican  party,  our  abiding  faith 
in  its  purposes,  our  conviction  that  it  is  the  best  existing 
instrumentality  for  securing  to  the  American  people  the 
blessing  of  good  government.  We  meet  to  commemorate 
the  birth  of  the  greatest  of  our  fellow-partisans — the 
Liberator  and  the  Martyr.  Of  him  who  was  at  once  the 
foremost  Republican  and  the  first  patriot  of  his  time — 
Abraham  Lincoln.  His  fame  is  a national  possession,  but 
in  a special  sense  ours.  Time  has  not  made  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son the  less  a Democrat,  nor  his  great  rival,  Alexander 
Hamilton,  other  than  a Federalist.  And  as  the  ages  flow 
onward  it  will  be  as  impossible  to  transform  Abraham  Lin- 
coln into  anything  but  a Republican  as  it  will  to  change 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  into  an  Abolitionist. 

Inspiring  as  the  theme  is,  it  is  not  mine  to  linger  upon. 
To  lips  more  eloquent  and  minds  attuned  to  grander  har- 
monies be  left  his  eulogy,  mine  the  lighter  duty  to  bid  you 
cordial  welcome  here  and  to  extend  the  League’s  hospitality 
to  her  distinguished  guests. 

The  Brooklyn  Republican  League  is  the  handmaid  of 
the  Republican  party.  She  believes  that  the  aggregate  of 
the  members  of  that  party  is  wiser  than  any  member  of 
them.  She  nominates  no  candidates,  but  when  they  are 
nominated  she  makes  their  cause  her  own.  She  says  to  the 
great  organization  whose  daughter  she  is,  as  Ruth  did  to 
Naomi,  “Whither  thou  goest,  I will  go ; where  thou  lodgest, 
I will  lodge ; and  thy  people  shall  be  my  people.” 

We  are  entering  upon  the  quadrennial  contest  for  the 
greatest  political  prize  on  earth.  Let  us  indulge  the  hope 
that  it  will  be  waged  upon  principles  rather  than  about  per- 
sonalities. That  whosoever  either  party  selects  will  be 


n4 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


tried  by  the  record,  aims  and  policy  of  his  party;  that  the 
nominee  of  our  opponents  will  not  claim  the  suffrages  of 
his  fellow-citizens  because  of  his  superiority  to  his  asso- 
ciates or  the  enemies  he  has  among  them.  Are  the  tenden- 
cies and  professed  principles  of  Democracy  indefensible 
that  its  apologists  claim  consideration  for  its  candidates 
on  the  score  of  personal  merit?  The  plan  of  every  recent 
Democratic  campaign — lesser  as  well  as  greater — has  been 
predicated  by  an  affirmative  answer  to  this  question.  The 
local  Democracy  entered  the  lists  last  fall  with  a champion 
clad  in  the  shining  armor  and  flying  the  blue  pennant  of 
reform.  His  heralds  loudly  trumpeted  his  resisting  power 
to  the  sinister  influence  which  entered  him.  Beside  him, 
hooded  falcon  at  the  tourney,  perched  the  “Eagle,”  its 
bandage  only  loosed  for  it  to  peck  at  the  adversary.  The 
tilt  was  won  and  the  knight  received  his  guerdon  and  the 
royal  command:  “The  tax  collector  must  go;  the  fire  com- 
missioner must  stay.”  Submission  must  not  only  be  un- 
conditional but  conspicuous.  In  the  first  month  the  white 
flag  of  surrender  floated  over  the  municipal  citadel  and  the 
McLaughlin  arms  were  replaced  over  the  portals  of  the 
City  Hall.  If  in  the  ensuing  two  years  legitimate  enter- 
prise would  enter  Brooklyn,  let  it  lay  its  tribute  of  black- 
mail at  the  feet  of  the  freebooters  who  hold  the  fortress  or 
remain  without  the  walls.  Shall  the  surplice  and  cassock 
obscure  the  electric  light?  Is  character,  abilities,  and  ex- 
alted social  position  in  a civil  service  commission,  when  the 
civil  service  has  for  two  years  been  “pressed  down,  shaken 
together  and  running  over”  with  political  vassals,  a com- 
pensation for  the  alliance  that  has  given  a renewed  term  to 
the  Board  of  Excise?  Does  a polished  address  and  profes- 
sional learning  only  fit  a corporation  counsel  for  a secret 
envoy  extraordinary  to  the  court  of  Gambrinus? 

But  there  are  reforms  that  we  are  to  have.  There  are 
more  voters  than  ever  in  Brooklyn,  therefore  they  should 


SPEECH  OF  JOHN  B.  GREEN.  115 

have  another  day  to  register  in.  Then,  tell  me,  gentlemen, 
the  reason  for  putting  the  extra  day  nearer  election  when 
the  time  now  intervening  is  scant  for  the  publication 
and  scrutiny  of  the  lists.  The  preservation  of  the  ballots 
is  a constant  temptation  to  dispute  a count  which  should 
be  indisputable.  Then  make  the  count  indisputable.  It 
ought  not  to  be  possible  for  any  quartette  of  scoundrels 
to  nullify  the  will  of  the  people  and  destroy  the  evidence  of 
their  guilt.  When  venal,  ignorant  or  drunken  canvassers 
in  the  slums  can  wait  for  orders,  delay  returns  until  di- 
rected what  to  make  them,  there  should  be  at  hand  the 
means  of  proving  and  correcting  their  crimes  or  mistakes. 
Seal  the  boxes  the  moment  the  polls  close,  send  them  at 
once,  with  the  poll-lists,  under  guard,  to  a central  station; 
open  none  until  all  arrive;  count  all  at  once;  make  public 
proclamation  and  certificate  of  the  result,  and  then  burn 
the  ballots. 

The  Democratic  party  sometimes  boasts  that  it  has  long 
maintained  its  Protean  character  under  the  same  masque, 
while  it  reproaches  its  rival  with  being  the  young  offspring 
of  a dire  necessity,  the  conception  of  a great  cause,  even 
now  overtaken  by  a senile  decrepitude.  But  Truth  is  ever- 
lasting, a principle  is  eternal ; only  the  methods  of  search 
for  the  one  and  the  application  of  the  other  change.  The 
independence  of  communities  and  national  unity  were  as 
much  involved  when  Arminius  met  and  overthrew  the 
hitherto  unconquered  Roman  legions  under  Varus  near  the 
head  waters  of  the  Ems,  as  the  former  was  when  Brooklyn 
claimed  a home-rule  charter,  and  the  latter  was  when  Gen- 
eral Sherman  marched  to  the  sea.  And  when  the  English 
barons  with  Stephen  Langton  at  Runnymede  wrested  from 
King  John  the  great  charter,  the  monarch’s  signet  was  the 
-archetype  of  the  signatures  to  our  own  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence, and  in  it  was  the  potentiality  of  that  signature 
in  our  own  time  that  emancipated  four  millions  of  bondmen. 


ii6 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


If  the  Republican  party,  my  brothers,  proud  of  and 
cherishing  the  heritage  of  an  illustrious  past,  but  holding 
fast  to  sound  principles  and  facing  forward,  under  standard- 
bearers  from  its  best  blood,  brain  and  character,  shall  con- 
test the  vital  issues  of  the  present,  its  past  defeats,  as  the 
touch  of  the  earth  to  Antaeus,  will  infuse  new  strength  in 
its  sinews,  and  out  of  the  next  conflict  it  will  come  to  find 
the  Democracy,  like  Attila  after  Chalons,  upon  its  heap  of 
Confederate  saddles  and  surrounded  by  its  own  spoils  ready 
to  light  its  own  funeral  pyre. 


“OUR  COUNTRY.” 

Response  by  Frank  T.  Lodge,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  at  Decoration  Day  banquet, 
held  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  May  30,  1893. 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

I am  greatly  embarrassed  at  rising  to  respond  to  this 
sentiment,  not  from  a lack  of  appreciation  of  the  length, 
and  breadth,  and  depth  of  the  subject,  nor  for  a lack  of 
love  of  the  thing  for  which  it  stands,  but  on  account  of  my 
inability  to  properly  sound  for  you  the  swelling  chords  of 
music,  of  sentiment,  and  of  eloquence  which  could  be 
struck  out  of  such  a subject  as  this  by  one  older  and  more 
eloquent  than  I.  To-day,  all  over  this  broad  land,  all  over 
the  sturdy  North,  and,  I am  glad  to  say,  in  many  places 
in  the  redeemed  South,  loving  hands  have  strewed  flowers 
over  the  graves,  eloquent  tongues  have  spoken  in  praise, 
and  musical  voices  have  sung  paeans  in  memoriae  lauda- 
tion of  the  fallen  heroes,  to  whom  the  sentiment,  “Our 
Country,”  meant  a loyal  love  that  shot  and  shell  and  blood 
and  pain  could  not  quench.  And  there  are  in  this  audience 
men  who,  from  the  deep  stores  of  that  five  years’  terrible 
experience,  could  tell  you,  in  words  far  more  graphic  than 
mine,  that  to  them,  at  least,  the  sentiment,  “Our  Country,” 
means  something  that  called  for  the  surrender  of  all  the 


ii7 


"our  country." 

ties  of  family,  of  home,  of  fortune  and  of  fame;  and  still  it 
was  a sacrifice  that  was  gladly  made. 

And  yet,  my  friends,  I feel  that  to  no  one  more  than 
to  the  young  men  and  women  of  to-day  should  this  senti- 
ment, "Our  Country,"  mean  more.  There  was  a time  when 
life  in  this  country  meant  privation  and  toil.  It  meant  stern, 
hand  to  hand  struggles  with  the  unsubdued  wilderness.  It 
meant  hardship  and  sacrifice.  It  meant  Indian  midnight 
massacres.  It  meant  desolated  hearthstones.  I’t  meant 
none  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  which  we  have  here  to- 
day. Yet,  prompted,  as  it  was,  by  a love  of  freedom,  full 
of  toil  and  terror  as  it  was,  our  forefathers  were  content  to 
suffer,  and  Washington  and  his  soldiers  at  Valley  Forge 
were  the  most  eloquent  response  and  the  highest  expression 
of  loyalty  which  that  mystic  sentiment,  "Our  Country,"  will 
ever  produce. 

Later  on,  when  our  country  was  in  the  wrong,  when 
she  engaged  in  a war  of  conquest,  and  wrested  from  a 
weaker  government  thousands  of  her  broad  acres,  the  sen- 
timent, "Our  Country,  right  or  wrong,"  prompted  many  to 
rush  into  danger  and  face  death  and  wounds  that  our 
country’s  flag  should  not  come  down  in  defeat. 

But  the  culmination  of  loyaltv,  the  grandest  sacrifice  that 
any  country  ever  made,  was  when  the  liberty  lovers  and 
patriots  of  our  land  rose  up  with  unselfish  devotion  to  purge 
our  country  of  the  plague  of  slavery. 

A large  portion  of  this  audience  were  babes  in  arms, 
and  many  of  us  were  born  long  after  the  storm  of  civil  war 
swept  over  this  land. 

To  us  the  war  is  not  even  a memory.  But,  through  the 
enlightening  influence  of  the  public  schools,  through  the 
blessings  of  an  education  that  is  widespread  and  almost 
universal,  I believe  that  love  of  country  and  loyal  patriotism 
is  as  strong  to-day  as  it  was  on  the  day  when  the  first  gun 


n8 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


fired  on  Sumter  raised  a storm  of  cleansing  that  shook 
our  nation  to  its  very  foundations. 

For  this  I thank  the  public  schools ; and,  to-night,  if 
you  ask  me  what  is  the  cornerstone  of  our  country’s  welfare 
at  the  present  time,  and  for  all  time  to  come,  I shall  say 
it  is  our  public  schools.  To  me  the  first  thought,  therefore, 
that  is  evoked  by  this  sentiment  is  that  we  firmly  establish 
a carefully  nourished  and  protected  system  of  public  schools 
to  which  every  child  in  our  broad  land  must  be  sent. 

Napoleon  said  that  the  future  of  France  rested  in  her 
mothers ; that  the  hand  that  rocked  the  cradle  ruled  the 
world.  True  it  is,  that  the  hand  that  controls,  and  the  brain 
that  directs,  the  education  of  our  children  marks  out  the 
lines  upon  which  the  future  of  our  country  must  be  reared. 
If  our  public  schools  are  broad  and  liberal,  unbiased  and 
impartial,  seeking  only  to  bring  our  children  face  to  face 
with  the  great  truths  in  nature,  history  and  literature,  they 
will  graduate  from  their  halls  to  become  the  citizens  of 
to-morrow,  broad-minded,  liberty-loving  and  patriotic  men 
and  women,  ff  our  educators  are  illiberal  and  prejudiced, 
or  feeble  and  weak;  if  our  education  is  restricted  to  the  few, 
and  the  children  of  the  many  grow  up  in  ignorance,  our 
jails  and  almshouses  will  be  full,  and  the  high  places  of  our 
nation’s  patriotism  will  be  empty  indeed. 

The  second  thought  which  my  sentiment  strikes  out  for 
me  is  that  our  country  must  be  free  from  class  distinctions ; 
it  must  be  the  home,  not  of  Germans,  nor  of  Irish,  nor  of 
Italians,  nor  of  Poles,  but  of  American  citizens,  men  who 
were  born  and  nurtured  here,  and  who  have  drawn  in  the 
air  of  liberty  with  their  vital  breath,  together  with  men  who 
have  renounced  allegiance  to  any  and  to  every  potentate, 
and  who  find  in  the  Stars  and  Stripes  their  only  allegiance 
and  their  only  shield. 

To-day,  my  friends,  this  country  has  no  gloomier 
menace  than  the  unrestricted  hordes  of  ignorant,  poverty- 


“our  country."  1 19 

stricken  and  criminal  classes  who  are  daily  pouring  across 
our  borders;  and  it  will  require  strong  brains  and  steady 
hands  to  guide  our  ship  of  state  through  the  storm  that  is 
already  lowering  upon  us.  Our  first  attempt  at  restricted 
immigration  was  a dismal  failure,  and  should  bring  the 
blush  of  shame  to  the  cheek  of  every  patriot.  Weak-kneed 
politicians  have  basely  truckled  to  the  clamorous  shout  of 
Kearneyites  and  sand-lot  agitators,  themselves  foreigners, 
and  have  disregarded  treaties  and  broken  contracts,  which, 
were  they  made  with  stronger  nations,  would,  long  ere  this, 
have  called  fleets  of  war  to  prey  upon  our  coasts  and  make 
us  respect  our  solemn  contract  obligations. 

What  we  want  is  honest  restriction ; what  we  want  is 
patriotic,  careful  consideration  of  such  subjects.  We  ought 
to  make  admission  to  citizenship  in  the  United  States  a 
badge  of  honor,  and  not  merely  a token  that  another  voter 
has  been  added  to  the  ranks  of  the  great  unwashed. 

Last  year,  in  Westminster  Hall,  in  London,  a fog  so 
thick  as  almost  to  obscure  all  objects  descended  upon  the 
citv  and  filled  the  halls  of  Parliament,  so  as  to  make  it 
difficult  to  transact  business  there.  A committee  of  sani- 
tary engineers  were  appointed  to  see  if  they  could  remedy 
the  difficulty,  and  very  soon  the  members  noticed  that  in- 
side the  Parliament  chambers  the  atmosphere  was  as  clear 
as  that  of  the  open  country,  while  outside  it  was  as  murky 
as  before.  Struck  with  the  change,  some  of  them  inves- 
tigated the  methods  by  which  it  had  been  effected.  De- 
scending to  the  basement,  they  saw,  stretched  across  the 
opened  windows,  sheets  of  cotton  covered  with  filth,  slime 
and  mud.  Through  these  sheets,  which  had  been  oreviouslv 
wet,  the  air  was  forced  into  the  Parliament  building.  The 
air  was  purified,  but  the  cotton,  which  had  oreviouslv  been 
as  white  as  snow,  was  covered  with  the  filth;  and,  upon 
analysis,  many  of  the  most  deadly  microbes  and  bacteria 
were  discovered  to  have  been  imprisoned  in  it. 


120 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


We  have  welcomed  to  our  shores  the  oppressed  of  every 
clime,  because,  with  our  Christian  institutions,  our  churches 
and  libraries  and  public  schools,  we  have  thought  that  we 
could  christianize  and  elevate  these  abandoned  hordes  and 
make  of  them  good  citizens.  We  may  succeed,  my  friends, 
in  ameliorating  their  condition,  but  the  filth  that  is  being 
precipitated  upon  us  must  be  deposited  somewhere.  The 
body  of  our  citizens  who  were  here  are  like  the  snow-white 
cotton ; while  they  purify  what  has  passed  through  them, 
they  themselves  retain  the  germs  and  filth  which  are 
left  behind.  To-day,  the  problem  of  immigration  confronts 
us  with  sterner  menace  than  ever  before.  It  is  being 
thundered  at  us  from  the  platform.  It  is  being  preached, 
at  us  from  the  pulpits.  It  fills  the  columns  of  our  public 
press ; but  we  still  slumber  on  in  fancied  security,  trusting 
— as  most  Americans  do — to  luck,  while  we  continue  to 
send  foreign  saloon-keepers  and  pothouse  boodle  politicians 
to  make  laws  which  enlarge  the  privilege  of  this  very  class, 
and  it  is  only  through  such  organizations  as  this,  of 
patriotic,  intelligent,  public-spirited  citizens,  that  the  evil 
can  ever  be  remedied.  God  bless  their  work  and  speed  their 
efforts ! 

You  all  know  the  story  of  the  soldier  of  the  empire, 
into  whose  body  the  surgeon  in  the  hospital  was  probing 
for  the  bullet  which  had  penetrated  very  near  his  heart. 
Those  were  the  days  before  they  had  chloroform  and  other 
anaesthetics  to  deaden  the  pain  of  surgical  operations. 
Writhing  in  pain  as  he  was,  as  the  surgeon’s  knife  cut  deeper 
and  deeper,  he  looked  up  into  his  face  and  smiling  said, 
“Just  a quarter  of  an  inch  more,  doctor,  and  you  will  touch 
the  emperor.”  I long  for  the  time  when  we  can,  with  equal 
truth,  say  to  him  who  comes  near  our  hearts,  “Just  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  more  and  you  will  touch  our  country.” 
If  we  cannot  truthfully  say  it  now,  we  can  be  educated  to  it. 
God  bless  our  public  schools ! The  flag  that  floats  over 


121 


^PRESIDENT  GRANT  AND  SAN  DOMINGO.” 

every  one  of  them  in  this  broad  land  teaches  our  youth  to 
reverence  the  banner  of  our  country,  and  should  a crisis 
ever  come  which  requires  a solid  phalanx  to  rally  for  its 
defense  against  any  foe,  their  myriad  hosts  will  consist 
almost  entirely  of  the  graduates  of  our  public  schools,  who 
have  every  day  seen  floating  over  them  the  flag  of  the  free, 
and  upon  whose  hearts  has  been  emblazoned  in  characters 
of  living  light  the  broadening,  the  elevating  sentiment,  “Our 
Country.” 

“PRESIDENT  GRANT  AND  SAN  DOMINGO.” 

Response  by  Congressman  William  Alden  Smith  of  Michigan,  at  the  annual 

banquet  of  the  Middlesex  Club  of  Boston,  Mass.,  in  honor  of  the  birth- 
day of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  Saturday  evening,  April  27,  1895. 

Mr.  President: 

Permit  me  to  thank  you  for  the  kind  invitation  so  gener- 
ously extended  by  the  committee  of  arrangements  to  meet 
with  you  upon  the  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  one  of 
America’s  most  distinguished  sons,  and  one  of  the  world’s 
greatest  men.  We  have  met  for  the  purpose  of  honoring 
the  memory  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  the  luster  of  whose  life 
lights  up  the  entire  field  of  human  action  with  a glow  and 
fire  of  perpetual  glory,  unclouded  by  time  and  undimmed 
by  circumstance.  To  single  out  of  his  inspiring  life  its 
greatest  achievement,  is  a task  I have  not  undertaken.  His 
early  struggles  are  an  inspiration ; and  his  ijiaturer  life,  with 
its  responsibilities  and  severe  trials,  a benediction.  Modest, 
genuine,  frank  and  tender;  firm,  heroic,  thoughtful  and 
wise,  possessing  that  charm  so  rare  in  the  public  man  of 
to-day,  golden  silence — he  could  nevertheless  break  it  with 
such  intelligent  speech  as  would  command  the  respectful 
attention  of  the  people  of  any  land. 

The  artists  of  France  were  astonished  a short  time  ago 
when  the  spirit  of  Raphael,  Angelo  and  Titian  re-asserted 
itself  in  the  genius  of  Fritel,  whose  brush  strikingly  por- 
trayed the  rulers  of  the  past.  He  burst  the  boundaries  of 


122 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


his  profession  and  entranced  the  eye  of  the  critic  with  a 
master  painting,  illustrating  the  march  of  empires  and  the 
leaders  of  men.  First,  Julius  Caesar,  haughty,  proud,  im- 
perious, his  face  radiant  with  the  superb  victory  of  Phar- 
salia,  where  his  imperial  eagles  found  new  standards;  then 
Rameses  II ; next  Hannibal  the  Carthagenian — Tamarlane 
the  Tartar.  At  the  left  of  Caesar,  Napoleon  rode,  flushed 
with  the  victories  of  his  Italian  campaigns ; dauntless  as  at 
Austerlitz,  Marengo  or  the  Alps — then  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  next  rides  Charlemagne,  as  proudly  as  when 
“in  the  ancient  metropolis  of  the  world  and  in  the  fullness 
of  his  fame  Pope  Leo  III.  placed  the  crown  of  Augustus 
upon  his  brow  and  gave  him,  amid  the  festivities  of  Christ- 
mas, his  apostolic  benediction.”  Onward  they  ride,  at  the 
head  of  the  armies,  testing  the  perspective  of  the  picture. 
The  old  world  marveled  at  the  daring  intrepidity  and  skill 
of  these  great  leaders  of  civilization’s  advancing  march. 
Yet  many  of  them  ruled  but  to  ruin.  Not  one  of  them  left 
that  fragrant  memory  characteristic  of  those  who  partici- 
pated in  the  nobler  drama  of  American  liberty  and  enfran- 
chisement. 

Washington  and  his  contemporaries  fretted  under  the 
galling  yoke  of  English  oppression,  and  the  revolution  ex- 
pressed and  emphasized  the  higher  aim  and  purpose  of 
mankind. 

Lincoln’s  simplicity  and  naturalness,  coupled  with  his 
uncompromising  love  of  humanity,  prompted  the  second 
scene  in  the  great  drama  of  the  new  world. 

Grant’s  unequaled  valor,  determination  and  strategy 
brought  to  a final  and  everlasting  conclusion  a civil  strife 
which  was  destined  to  cement  in  one  bond  of  fraternal 
union  this  vast  empire. 

Oh,  artist  of  the  future ! Group  these  three  tender  mem- 
ories, kindle  the  fire  of  human  liberty,  and  enlighten  future 
ages  with  this  latest  and  grandest  ideality ! 


^PRESIDENT  GRANT  AND  SAN  DOMINGO.”  1 23 

Our  national  military  school  taught  Grant  the  value  of 
strategic  points  of  defense  and  attack.  His  campaigns  were 
marvels  of  exactness  and  keen  perception,  executed  with 
prowess  and  true  military  genius. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  traverse  these  scenes,  but  to  take 
up  another  phase  of  his  public  career,  of  which  the  younger 
generation  knows  so  little.  Shortly  after  his  election  as 
chief  executive,  President  Grant  concluded  the  negotiation 
with  the  Dominican  Republic,  begun  by  Secretary  Seward. 
His  keen  appreciation  of  the  advantage  of  American  own- 
ership and  control  of  the  island  of  San  Domingo  was  in 
line  with  his  record  so  amply  demonstrated  in  the  field  of 
military  triumph.  He  promptly  decided  that  it  was  wise 
for  the  American  nation  to  accept  this  island,  which  was 
offered  freely  by  its  inhabitants,  and  submitted  a treaty  of 
annexation,  which,  however,  failed  of  ratification  by  a tie 
vote  in  the  Senate. 

The  acquisition  of  San  Domingo  lie  believed  to  be  a 
strict  adherence  to  the  Monroe  doctrine — a measure  of 
national  protection.  It  had  been  important  from  the  for- 
mation of  our  government  that  the  American  nation  con- 
trol, as  far  as  possible,  the  West  Indies.  Our  Presidents 
have  expressed  an  almost  universal  desire  of  the  people  for 
an  advanced  naval  outpost  between  the  Atlantic  coast  and 
Europe.  Nearly  all  of  the  early  statesmen  have  agreed 
that  the  West  Indies  naturally  form  a part  of  the  North 
American  territory,  and  should  be  absorbed  ultimately  by 
the  continental  states. 

President  Grant  set  his  heart  on  the  annexation  of  San 
Domingo,  because  of  its  value  to  our  country,  and  its 
prominence  among  the  West  Indies.  The  overtures  for 
annexation  came  voluntarily  from  the  people  of  that  blood- 
drenched  island,  who  sought  political  affiliation  with  us 
because  they  believed  it  would  save  them  from  the  daily 
and  hourly  conflict  with  the  Haytian  people.  They  realized 
that  they  were  but  the  toys  of  ambitious  chieftains  who  ob- 


124 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


tained  and  maintained  their  power  in  the  island  through 
strife.  They  turned  to  the  United  States,  believing  that 
our  government  could  extinguish  lawlessness  by  firm  and 
judicious  measures  of  administration.  The  question  of 
accepting  this  free  gift,  which  any  government  of  Europe 
would  have  seized  eagerly,  was  a patriotic  privilege  of  which 
President  Grant  knew  the  value. 

The  world  could  have  said  that  if  the  Haytian  spirit  of 
lawlessness  was  to  dominate  the  island,  its  effects  upon  the 
Antilles  would  be  demoralizing,  while  prosperity  and  good 
government  in  San  Domingo  would  have  its  effect  in  sub- 
duing civil  strife.  The  Dominican  people  longed  for  a 
higher  and  better  citizenship.  They  had  fought  for  and 
established  their  government  against  oppression  and  con- 
quest. That  fact  should  have  attracted  the  favorable  com- 
mendation of  the  people  of  our  country.  Their  govern- 
ment was  constitutional,  presided  over  by  a patriotic  presi- 
dent, three  times  regularly  chosen  for  his  personal  qualifi- 
cations of  intelligence  and  patriotism.  After  thus  serving 
the  people,  when  insurrection  was  incited  again,  they  urged 
President  Baez  to  accept  an  absolute  dictatorship  over  the 
island.  This  he  refused  in  so  patriotic  and  inspired  an 
utterance  as  deserves  a place  among  the  literary  classics. 
These  petty  and  aggravating  insurrections  along  the  Hay- 
tian border  led  thoughtful  men  in  the  island  to  look  abroad 
for  relief.  People  of  all  classes  asked  that  the  strong  arm 
of  this  nation  be  thrown  around  them,  putting  an  end  to 
the  efforts  and  hopes  of  seditious  revolutionists.  They 
knew  of  the  sacrifices  made  in  the  civil  war  to  unfetter  the 
slave,  and  turned  to  u$  as  a Mussulman  turns  toward 
Mecca. 

Why  did  we  not  accept  this  gift? 

Was  not  the  island  advantageously  located? 

Was  it  not  inhabited  by  patriotic  people? 

Was  it  not  rich  in  natural  resources? 

Our  commission  of  inquiry  said  that  the  condition  of 


125 


"PRESIDENT  GRANT  AND  SAN  DOMINGO.” 

the  Dominican  was  far  better  than  could  have  been  antici- 
pated, that  high  crimes  were  comparatively  unknown,  that 
no  pauper  class  existed,  that  intemperance  and  beggary 
were  more  common  among  the  enlightened  nations  of  the 
world.  The  people  were  described  as  courteous,  respectful 
and  polite,  kind  and  hospitable;  desirous  of  educational 
advantages,  and  a higher  citizenship.  The  resources  of 
their  country  were  vast  and  various,  and,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  commission,  San  Domingo  is  one  of  the  most  fertile 
regions  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Fanned  by  trade  winds, 
they  were  more  fortunate  than  the  islands  further  within 
the  Gulf,  constantly  supplied  with  pure  air  from  the  sea. 
The  Bay  of  Samana  was  the  most  important  in  the  West 
Indies.  It  is  thirty  miles  long  and  ten  miles  broad,  com- 
modious enough  to  accommodate  the  largest  fleets. 

Why  do  we  need  this  island?  For  this  good  and  suffi- 
cient reason : It  sits  like  a sentinel  in  the  Caribbean  Sea, 

guarding  the  Mona  Passage,  destined  to  be  the  Eastern 
avenue  of  communication  between  the  two  great  oceans 
when  the  Nicaragua  Canal  shall  be  an  accomplished  fact. 

Our  relations  with  the  West  Indies,  Central  and  South 
America  are  growing  closer  and  more  important  every  year. 
Should  we  not  have  an  intermediate  point  from  which  the 
United  States  could  reach  their  objects  of  trade  and  enter- 
prise? Such  a point  is  this  island,  containing  22,212  square 
miles — larger  than  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  Rhode  Island 
and  Connecticut.  A trained  military  eye  could  appreciate 
the  importance  of  this  outpost,  and  President  Grant  would 
have  made  it  a part  of  the  American  Union.  How  clearly 
he  saw,  how  courageously  he  acted,  and  with  what  patriot- 
ism was  he  inspired.  This  is  the  age  of  trade  conquests 
the  world  over.  The  countries  of  the  Western  Hemisphere 
stand  face  to  face  with  the  necessity  of  dealing  with  one 
another  as  Americans.  This  entire  group  of  magnificent 
islands  is  naturally  a part  of  the  American  territory.  "The 
West  India  Sea  corresponds  to  that  of  the  Mediterranean 


126 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


from  Syria  to  the  pillars  of  Hercules.  The  Mediterranean 
is  divided  into  an  eastern  and  western  basin,  and  as  Italy, 
Sardinia  and  Tunis  divide  the  basin  there,  so  Cuba,  Jamaica, 
San  Domingo  and  Yucatan  divide  the  Gulf  and  the  Car- 
ribean  Sea.  As  the  former  is  fed  by  the  venerable  ancient 
Nile,  so  ours  is  augmented  by  the  pulsating  artery  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  Mediterranean  is  a world  sea,  lying  in 
the  temperate  zone,  amid  an  ancient  civilization,  and  our 
southern  basin  is  destined  to  be  a world  sea  when  an  inter- 
national waterway  shall  pierce  the  isthmus  connecting  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Hemispheres  by  direct  and  rapid 
communication.’’ 

This  has  been  the  dream  of  trans-Atlantic  thinkers  for 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Indeed,  its  importance  was 
suggested  by  Charlese  V.,  after  the  discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus,  and  later  by  Philip  II.,  to  whom  Cortez  reported 
that  the  greatest  service  he  could  render  to  the  king  was  to 
find  an  opening  through  the  isthmus  to  the  Pacific.  Lack 
of  funds  and  an  ignorant  superstition  caused  this  work  to 
be  abandoned  because,  as  was  said : “God  had  advisedly 

separated  the  two  oceans  by  land  in  order  to  curb  the  fury 
of  the  waves.”  The  idea  of  constructing  a canal  through 
Lake  Nicaragua  was  first  suggested  in  1665.  Thus  we  see 
why  England  always  has  been  alive  to  the  importance  of 
island  ownership  and  territorial  acquisition  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  isthmus.  Its  construction  will  raise  the  islands  to  an 
importance  beyond  calculation.  A lavish  nature,  tropical 
climate,  and  prolific  soil  have  rendered  their  possession 
valuable.  They  will  be  the  cause  of  contention  and  compe- 
tition in  the  future. 

Is  it  not  essential  that  we  should  be  vigilant  as  to  our 
true  interests  at  this  point?  The  British  jack  is  there,  bar- 
ring the  entrance  to  this  route,  and  the  roar  of  the  old  lion 
can  be  heard  now  on  the  coast  of  Venezuela  and  in  little 
Nicaragua.  Shall  we  sit  idly  by  while  the  Monroe  doctrine 
is  assailed  and  our  ramparts  are  being  taken?  Great  Britain 


“PRESIDENT  GRANT  AND  SAN  DOMINGO.”  12J 

already  holds  the  keys  to  navigation  in  the  West  Indies. 
She  owns  Jamaica — Cromwell  wrested  it  from  the  Span- 
iards in  1655 — and  Kingston  is  the  base  of  operations  of 
the  British  West  India  fleet.  It  lies  but  ninety  miles  from 
Cuba  and  a short  distance  from  San  Domingo,  supervising, 
more  than  we  imagine,  our  coast  trade.  Britain’s  flag  floats 
over  the  Caman  islands,  Trinidad,  St.  Vincent,  the  Barba- 
does,  St.  Lucia  and  the  Bahamas,  as  well  as  the  eastern 
coast  of  Yucatan  and  British  Honduras,  all  strongly  forti- 
fied. Spain  controls  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  both  of  which 
are  deemed  of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  that  poverty- 
stricken  country  to  go  to  war  for  their  maintenance  and 
retention. 

In  the  space  of  this  response  I cannot  touch  upon  the 
importance  of  Cuba  to  the  United  States,  but  may  be  par- 
doned for  expressing  the  hope  that,  during  the  life  of  this 
generation,  it  may,  as  it  should,  become  a part  of  our  own 
country.  France  owns  the  islands  of  Guadaloupe  and 
Martinique,  lying  well  up  toward  Mona  Passage,  but  San 
Domingo  rises  above  them  all  with  special  advantages  and 
a special  prominence.  Had  President  Grant’s  fervent  wish 
been  granted,  our  flag  to-day  would  wave  over  the  island ; 
and,  from  the  folds  of  its  stars  and  stripes  dedicated  to 
liberty  and  union,  would  float  out  over  the  gulf  and  sea,  a 
spirit  of  patriotism  tempering  the  entire  archipelago.  San 
Domingo  was  the  first  island  of  the  Western  Hemisphere 
colonized  by  Europeans.  Near  it  was  born  Alexander 
Hamilton,  whose  ashes  still  rule  us  from  their  urn,  and  here 
Christopher  Columbus  was  buried  in  accordance  with  his 
own  expressed  desire. 

Should  it  have  been  accepted  when  tendered?  Then 
how  much  more  important,  in  the  light  of  the  present  day, 
is  it  that  we  accept  the  Hawaiian  islands,  situated  with  ref- 
erence to  our  own  country  as  advantageously  in  the  Pacific 
as  San  Domingo  is  at  the  Gulf.  Would  there  be  any  doubt 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  this  country  extending  its  jurisdiction 


128 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


over  the  Bermudas  in  the  Atlantic,  if  they  were  offered  to 
us  as  freely  as  were  Domingo  and  the  Sandwich  Islands? 
The  faintest  encouragement  would  have  been  sufficient  for 
Great  Britain  to  encircle  these  islands.  And  this  genera- 
tion owes  it  to  those  that  follow  to  lessen  the  possibilities  of 
war,  by  taking  into  the  national  union  these  naval  outposts 
in  both  oceans. 

It  was  asserted  a hundred  years  ago,  by  students  of 
European  history,  that,  if  America  should  become  free,  she 
would,  one  day,  give  the  law  to  Europe.  She  would  take 
away  her  islands  and  her  colonies.  She  would  seize  the 
Antilles.  She  would  acquire  Mexico  and  possess  herself 
of  Chili  and  Brazil.  How  much  of  this  prophecy  should  be 
realized  in  this  day  and  age  of  advancing  civilization? 

A hundred  years  ago,  it  was  predicted  of  our  nation,  that 
it  would,  some  day,  stretch  its  arms  upon  the  two  oceans 
and  direct  the  vessels  from  one  to  the  other  by  an  artificial 
route,  through  Lake  Nicaragua,  that  would  change  the 
course  of  the  commercial  world  and  the  face  of  empires. 
Shall  we  justify  the  prophecies  of  these  seers  of  old,  and 
while  rigidly  adhering  to  the  doctrine  emphasized  by  Mon- 
roe and  maintained  with  more  or  less  exactness  by  each  of 
his  successors,  apply  it  as  firmly  to  other  nations  as  we 
have  rigidly  observed  it  ourselves. 

In  this  hour  of  territorial  acquisition  and  trade  con- 
quest, may  we  not  well  pause  and  consider  the  earnest  and 
heartfelt  desire  of  our  greatest  military  captain  and  one  of 
our  best  Presidents,  in  honor  of  whose  birthday  we  are 
assembled,  and  take  up  the  work  of  closer  political  relation- 
ship with  the  republic  of  San  Domingo  at  the  South,  and 
Hawaii,  the  young  republic  of  the  West,  standing  like 
sentinels  on  guard  over  the  gateway  from  the  Atlantic,  the 
Pacific  and  the  Tropic  sea,  and  mindful  of  the  foresight, 
wisdom  and  patriotism  breathed  out  of  his  loyal  soul,  as  he 
passed  from  earth  to  heaven,  pray  the  divine  hand  to  part 
the  cloud  obscuring  our  visionr  that  we  may  catch  again 


"doctors,  lawyers,  preachers,  business  men/'  129 

his  lofty  spirit,  and  see  by  his  clear  light  the  way  of  true 
greatness  for  our  country  and  our  flag. 


“DOCTORS,  LAWYERS,  PREACHERS,  BUSINESS 

MEN.” 


Response  by  Joseph  B.  Connell,  B.  S.,  LL.  B.,  M.  D.,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  at 
banquet  of  Michigan  University  Alumni  at  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Aprix,  1896. 

I believe  with  De  Tocqueville  who  said,  “There  are  no 
professions  in  America,  everything  is  an  art  or  a trade.” 
There  being  no  large  leisure  class  here,  the  bread  and  but- 
ter problem  enters  into  every  calling,  and  the  professions 
deal  largely  in  commodities,  which  are  regulated  by  the  law 
of  supply  and  demand.  Even  religion  is  no  exception,  and 
we  realize  that  salvation  is  no  longer  free  for  you  and  me, 
but  costs  money.  We  speak  no  longer  of  a doctor’s  or  a 
lawyer’s  practice,  but  of  his  business;  nor  of  the  size  of  a 
preacher’s  congregation,  but  of  his  salary.  The  fact  is, 
competition  in  the  professions,  together  with  the  growth  of 
popular  intelligence,  are  working  revolutions  in  profes- 
sional aims  and  methods  and  are  demanding  of  each  that 
it  render  the  “quid  pro  quo”  in  genuine  equivalent  for  the 
professional  fee.  Why,  popular  intelligence  is  in  the  very 
air  in  America.  It  is  said  we  breathe  18  to  20  times  a min- 
ute where  the  Englishman  breathes  15  to  18  times;  and  from 
this  increased  oxidation,  there  arises  increased  cerebration 
which,  aided  by  free  schools,  the  press,  and  public  discus- 
sion, is  elevating  popular  intelligence  so  high  that  the  peo- 
ple have  lost  their  reverence  for  authority.  They  demand 
the  causes  and  the  reasons,  and  subject  every  idea  to  the 
alembic  of  their  own  experience.  The  people  are  running 
this  government — not  the  politicians.  The  pews  and  not 
the  preachers  are  running  the  pulpit.  Popular  opinion  is 
behind  the  law.  And  the  people  are  largely  running  the 
medical  profession,  though  we  have  them  at  a disadvan- 
tage— when  they  are  down.  It  is  remarkable  how  the  per- 


130 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


sonnel  of  the  professions  has  changed  within  the  memory 
of  those  now  living.  Why,  even  I can  remember  the  old- 
fashioned  preacher  as  a long,  solemn,  ominous,  individual, 
full  of  dismal  forebodings — when  in  order  to  be  religious 
one  had  to  become  bilious.  Such  a man  does  not  succeed 
to-day!  My  old  idea  of  a doctor  was  similar — a cross  be- 
tween a preacher  and  an  undertaker,  who  entered  the  sick 
room,  mysterious  and  profound.  He  is  not  popular  to- 
day! The  frontier  lawyer  is  described  by  Lincoln.  ‘‘He 
mounted  the  rostrum,  threw  back  his  head,  ‘shined’  his  eyes, 
opened  his  mouth,  and  left  the  consequences  to  God!” 
Such  a man  is  not  popular  to-day!  The  demand  is  not  for 
that  class  of  lawyers  portrayed  in  Warren’s  Ten  Thousand 
a Year,  as  the  great  BBB’s — Bluffers  of  courts,  browbeaters 
of  witnesses,  and  bulldozers  of  juries.  Not  for  those  who 
so  far  forget  themselves  as  to  become  mere  vials  of  vitriol 
to  be  hurled  at  an  antagonist — mere  missiles  of  anger  and 
revenge.  The  demand  is  not  for  a blackmailer,  but  for  a 
business  lawyer,  one  who  is  firm,  yet  just;  one  who  keeps 
us  out  of  litigation,  for  the  good  all  around  office  man.  I 
admit  the  other  genius  still  flourishes  somewhat  in  country 
towns,  but  the  good  office  man  gets  the  best  class  of  busi- 
ness and  makes  the  most  money.  So  the  demand  is  not 
for  the  religion  of  fear,  but  of  love,  and  we  are  willing  to 
pay  for  it.  So  the  demand  is  not  for  the  cure  of  disease  by 
black  cat  skins,  or  potatoes  in  the  pocket,  or  the  left  hind 
foot  of  a rabbit  killed  in  the  dark  of  the  moon.  The  people 
demand  the  rational  scientific  medicine,  which  seeks  the 
cause  of  disease  and  helps  nature  in  its  cure.  Why  are  law 
and  medicine  specializing?  It  is  a business  principle,  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  division  of  labor — each  becoming  pro- 
ficient along  certain  exclusive  lines.  It  narrows  one  down 
to  a sharper  cutting  edge. 

Now,  in  medicine  we  have  a certain  unwritten  code  of 
ethics  which  says  “no  one  shall  advertise  but  me.”  And  if 
a doctor  gets  a puff — all  the  rest,  like  anarchists,  are  jealous 


"doctors,  lawyers,  preachers,  business  men."  13 i 

and  pull  him  down  for  taking  an  unfair  advantage.  But 
we  can’t  find  fault  with  specialism,  for  it  is  legitimate  adver- 
tising— advertising  by  inference,  and  it  pays.  The  only 
difference  between  legal  and  medical  specialism  is  that  the 
lawyer  must  earn  his  specialty,  while  in  medicine  it  can  be 
adopted. 

Why  are  contingent  fees  growing  in  size  and  frequency  ? 
And  why  are  private  hospitals  becoming  essential?  It  is  a 
plain  business  principle.  Capital  is  becoming  an  essential 
to  the  professions.  But  you  say  is  not  medicine  a charitable 
profession?  Look  at  the  colleges  and  free  hospitals  and 
dispensaries  for  the  poor.  Does  not  the  doctor  give  his 
services  gratis — from  pure  philanthropy?  Not  exactly. 
He  reminds  me  of  the  dialogue  between  father  and  daugh- 
ter. “Daughter,  is  not  that  young  man  a member  of  the 
coal  combine?  Yes,  sir.  Isn’t  he  a member  of  the  gas 
company?  Yes,  sir.  Well,  my  daughter,  I am  afraid  his 
attentions  to  you  are  not  entirely  disinterested.”  So  with 
the  doctors.  Competition  forces  them  to  keep  before  the 
people,  and  their  charity  services  are  as  bread  cast  upon  the 
waters,  which  may  return  to  them  after  many  days  in  in- 
creased experience,  a better  class  of  patients  and  better 
pay. 

Now,  in  my  judgment,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  same 
essentials  to  success  exist  in  all  the  professions — address, 
policy,  hard  work,  money,  influence,  character.  The  dif- 
ferences between  professional  men  are  not  causes,  but 
effects  of  different  kinds  of  work.  Bacon  says,  "Speaking 
maketh  a ready  man,  reading  maketh  a full  man,  writing 
maketh  an  exact  man and  this  is  the  whole  thing  in  a nut- 
shell. Doctors  are  quiet,  careful,  studious,  scientific. 
Preachers  are  literary,  persuasive,  rhetorical.  Lawyers  are 
ready,  fluent,  logical,  diplomatic. 

It  is  said  the  average  United  States  Senator  has  the  best 
disciplined  mind  in  America.  Why?  Because  he  has  gen- 
erally been  a lawyer,  and  his  legal  and  political  battles,  his 


13-  MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 

many  attritions  have  developed  a wonderful  mental  strength 
and  equipoise,  together  with  a superlative  cheek,  which  is 
the  admiration  and  the  envy  of  the  civilized  world? 

Now,  I should  be  sorry  to  feel  that  there  was  nothing 
but  money  in  the  professions.  That  the  doctor  relieved 
suffering  at  so  much  a pain.  That  the  preacher  paved  the 
way  to  heaven  at  so  much  per  pavement.  Or  that  the  wit 
of  the  orator  was  so  much  a haw  haw!  For  over  and  above 
it  all,  the  professions  are  the  only  beacon  lights  which  poor, 
frail  humanity  has  to  guide  and  guard;  and  oftentimes  they 
shed  a radiance  as  immeasurable  in  money  as  the  radiance 
of  the  stars! 

Now,  financially,  no  profession  is  a gold  mine.  If 
money  is  your  object — like  the  boys’  three  roads  to  town — 
whichever  road  you  take,  you  wish  you  had  took  t’other. 
All  are  overestimated.  And  most  of  us,  when  expenses  are 
paid,  could  cry  with  Wolsey,  “My  robe  and  my  integrity 
to  heaven  are  all  I dare  now  call  mine  own!” 

But  I hold,  as  a business  proposition,  that  any  class  or 
calling  stands  with  the  people,  in  proportion  to  the  prompti- 
tude with  which  it  pays  its  debts. 

Lawyers  and  preachers,  pay  your  debts ! Keep  your 
credit,  like  Caesar’s  wife,  above  suspicion.  Now  some 
preachers — not  all — are  apt  to  saddle  their  bills  on  to  the 
trustees,  or  to  mentally  give  a mortgage  on  their  mansion 
in  the  skies.  Some  lawyers — not  all — are  apt  to  say,  “Let 
my  creditors  wait!  Who  dare  sue  a lawyer?” 

Now,  in  other  respects  I grant  you,  the  doctor  is  a poor 
business  man.  He  has  no  time  for  himself.  About  the 
time  he  begins  to  think  about  his  own  investments,  some- 
body’s baby  gets  the  colic  and  away  goes  the  doctor,  and 
away  goes  his  plans — till  baby  has  recovered,  and  then  away 
has  gone  his  opportunity.  If  you  want  to  gull  somebody, 
if  you  want  to  coax  money  out  of  somebody,  go  and  flatter 
some  fool  doctor,  and  you’ll  get  your  money!  Hasn’t  time 
to  investigate!  But  the  doctor  pays  his  bills  best  of  all. 


"doctors,  lawyers,  preachers,  business  men."  133 

Why?  Is  it  that  he  makes  more  money?  Not  a bit.  Is  he 
a good  collector?  He  is  a poor  collector?  More  honest? 
Hardly.  It  is  because  his  income  is  more  regular.  Now, 
in  this  respect,  I’d  rather  sell  peanuts  than  pianos.  Because 
you  sell  peanuts  every  day  and  the  season’s  all  the  year 
around ! So  I’d  rather  practise  medicine  every  day,  and 
have  my  income  from  month  to  month  so  as  to  meet  my 
obligations  as  they  arise,  than  to  preach  or  practise  law 
and  have  my  income  at  some  salary  day,  or  some  term  of 
court,  and  nothing  hardly  the  rest  of  the  year.  I’d  feel 
better,  stand  better,  work  better,  develop  better,  .pay  better. 
Speed  the  day  when  in  all  professions  chicanery  shall  cease, 
and  when  all  shall  be  so  conducted  on  business  principles 
that  they  can  look  every  man  in  the  face  and  grow  in  public 
patronage  and  esteem ! 

But  in  another  respct  the  doctor  has  the  advantage  over 
the  lawyer.  He  pays  the  debt  of  nature  more  gracefully. 
Why?  In  religious  opinion  most  lawyers  are  agnostics. 
Why?  It  is  an  effect  and  not  a cause.  With  the  lawyer  life 
is  spent  unraveling  conflicting  human  testimony.  He  learns 
that  no  two  men  can  see  or  hear  or  tell  the  same  fact  the 
same  way ; that  nothing  is  reliable.  That  the  best  witnesses 
are  biased  or  have  faulty  perception  or  memory.  One  of 
our  highest  courts  recently  decided  a man  was  dead.  Sev- 
eral saw  him  drown.  The  witnesses  so  swore.  The  court 
ignored  any  other  theory.  The  jury  so  believed  and  it  was 
so  decided.  No  doubt  about  it.  He  was  dead  and  paid  for. 
And  now  the  man  appears  and  says  it  isn’t  true! 

Nothing  reliable!  And  hence  he  comes  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  Divine  revelation  written  by  human  pen,  is  unre- 
liable, and  he  cries,  with  Ingersoll,  "I  am  an  agnostic,  I 
don’t  know !” 

Most  doctors  are  materialists.  Why?  A student  of 
medicine  is  a student  of  nature.  He  knows  a little  of  bot- 
any and  geology  and  anatomy,  a little  of  Fauna  and  Flora, 


134 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


of  field  and  forest  and  stream.  He  can  “go  forth  into  the 
open  sky  and  list  to  Nature  and  her  teachings.”  Better  than 
the  Duke  in  “As  You  Like  It,”  can  he  “find  tongues  in 
trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks,  sermons  in  stones  and 
good  in  everything.”  He  looks  through  the  'body  with  the 
Roentgen  ray.  He  sees  it  disintegrate  under  the  knife  and 
under  the  forces  of  Nature.  He  studies  its  histological 
structure  under  the  miscroscope,  and  he  says  this  is  all  of 
man,  the  end  is  here  and  now.  Man  is  but  an  aggregation 
of  cells  with  separate  functions — differentiated  protoplasm. 
He  dies,  and  is  chemically  broken  up  into  carbonic  acid, 
water,  ammonia,  and  the  earthy  salts,  and  is  absorbed  by 
the  earth  and  air  and  tree  and  flower,  and  joins  the  eternal 
cycle  of  life  and  death  through  all  the  ages  that  shall  come 
and  go!  And  that  is  all  there  is  of  it.  No  present  but  of 
the  flesh,  no  future  but  of  earth  and  sky ! And  from  this 
belief  there  arises  a quiet  satisfaction  with  the  problem  of 
life,  a broader  conception  of  Nature  and  the  universe,  an 
inspiration  broader  than  creed — this  “looking  through 
Nature,  up  to  Nature’s  God!” 


“THE  LEGAL  PROFESSION.” 

Response  by  Frank  T.  Lodge,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  at  the  annual  banquet  of  the 
Michigan  College  of  Medicine  and  Surgery,  at  the  Wayne 
Hotel,  Detroit,  Mich.,  March  6,  1895. 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

If  your  toastmaster  were  still  a member  of  the  Health 
Board  of  Detroit  (which,  fortunately  for  the  health  and 
hopes  of  the  community,  he  is  not),  I might  say  that,  with 
this  introduction  I had  been  duly  placarded,  and,  at  the 
conclusion  of  this  speech,  I would  be  put  into  the  strictest 
quarantine.  I have  been  wondering,  as  I sat  here,  why  I 
was  chosen  to  respond  to  this  toast.  Frequenters  of  ban- 
quets and  connoisseurs  of  after-dinner  oratory  are  aware 
that  the  chief  requisite  of  most  of  those  who  speak  on 


"the  legal  profession."  135 

occasions  like  this,  seems  to  be  their  complete  ignorance  of 
the  subject  assigned  to  them.  Like  Mark  Twain,  in  his 
famous  Essay  on  Milk,  they  talk  about  everything  else  in 
the  world  but  their  subject,  and,  apparently,  know  nothing 
about  that.  In  view  of  this  well-known  practice  upon  ban- 
quet occasions,  I am  surprised  that  I,  a lawyer,  living  and 
working  in  the  very  atmosphere  of  the  law,  and  supposed 
to  know  all  about  it,  should  be  called  upon  to  display  my 
ignorance  of  it  by  responding  to  it  as  a toast. 

Upon  second  thought,  however,  the  harrowing  suspicion 
forces  itself  upon  my  mind  that  your  committee  who  as- 
signed me  this  subject  and  your  toastmaster  who  has  called 
me  up,  knew  their  business  better  than  I thought  they  did. 
A certain  practitioner  at  our  bar  used  frequently  to  be 
called  "Old  Necessity,"  because  it  has  passed  into  a proverb 
that  "Necessity  knows  no  law."  Perhaps  I am  the  "Old 
Necessity"  of  this  glittering  and  splendid  program.  Per- 
haps the  very  reason  I was  asked  to  represent  the  legal 
profession  this  evening  is  because  of  the  clearly  defined 
impression  in  the  minds  of  the  committee  that  I know  so 
little  of  the  subject  that  it  may  safely  be  entrusted  to  me. 

I can  therefore  assure  you,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  that  the 
topic  has  already  become  a painful  one  to  me,  by  reason  of 
the  uncertainty  in  which  my  real  relation  to  it  is  involved ; 
and,  were  it  not  for  the  "reasonable  doubt"  of  which  the 
law  gives  every  criminal, — even  a lawyer, — the  benefit,  I 
would  feel  unable  to  proceed.  Fortified,  however,  by  the 
fact  that  the  law  presumes  me  to  be  guilty  of  knowledge, 
at  least  until  this  speech  shall  have  proven  me  innocent,  I 
shall  persevere  to  the  bitter  end. 

I have  no  doubt  that  scores  of  physicians  firmly  believe 
that  the  legal  profession  is  an  invention  of  the  Devil,  espe- 
cially devised  by  "His  Black  Majesty"  for  the  torture  of 
gentlemen  of  their  cloth,  so  that,  by  driving  them  to  the 
brink  of  suicide  or  the  unctuous  profanity  which  can  fall  so 


136 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


smoothly  from  their  lips,  he  may  thereby  largely  recruit 
his  ranks  from  the  wielders  of  the  scalpel  and  lancet. 

And  who  that  has  seen  the  physician  after  first  testifying 
on  oath  that  he  is  a competent  expert,  finally  tangled  up  in 
inextricable  labyrinths,  tied  into  Gordian  knots  by  innocent- 
appearing,  but  dangerous  cross-examination,  and  then 
dismissed,  with  flushed  face  and  angry  heart,  half  dead  with 
rage  and  mortification,  who,  I say,  can  blame  such  a physi- 
cian if  he  lacks  a warm  affection  for  the  profession  which 
has  made  him  appear  so  ridiculous. 

To  be  sure,  the  physician’s  turn  comes  sooner  or  later. 
Lawyers  are  no  more  exempt  from  the  common  heritage  of 
ills  that  belong  to  all  flesh  than  are  other  mortals,  and  the 
lawyer  must,  perforce,  call  in  the  physician  once  in  a while. 
When  the  physician  gets  through  with  him,  the  account 
between  them  is  more  than  evened  up,  except  that,  because 
of  his  liberal  donations  during  life  to  church  and  charity, 
the  lawyer’s  estate  never  seems  to  be  large  enough  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  his  last  illness,  including,  of  course,  the  in- 
evitable “doctor’s  bill.” 

It  is  true,  the  physician  sometimes  makes  a slip,  and 
cures  the  lawyer,  even  to  his  own  undoing.  I remember  an 
instance  of  a physician  who  presented  his  bill  for  profes- 
sional services  to  a lawyer,  who  had  recently  recovered 
from  a serious  illness.  The  lawyer  pleaded  inability  to  pay, 
claiming  to  have  used  all  his  money  in  meeting  an  insur- 
ance assessment.  “Are  you  insured?”  asked  the  physician 
with  a startled  air.  “Yes,”  said  the  lawyer,  “and,  in  case  of 
my  death,  the  proceeds  of  the  insurance  are  to  be  first  ap- 
plied to  paying  the  expense  of  my  last  illness.”  “Humph,” 
said  the  physician  reflectively,  “I  wish  I had  known  that 
sooner.  I think  I would  have  gotten  my  money. 

But,  joking  aside,  I am  glad  to  respond  to  this  toast 
to-night.  I am  glad  to  see  two  liberal  professions,  like 
yours  and  mine,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  joining  hands  in  their 


"the  legal  profession."  137 

lighter,  as  they  so  frequently  do  in  their  more  serious,  mo- 
ments. I am  glad  that  we  may,  for  a brief  season,  step 
aside  from  the  rush  and  bustle,  to  catch  our  breath;  that 
we  may,  to-night,  readjust  our  measurements  and  take 
anew  our  bearings,  looking  upward  at  the  Pole  Star  of 
Truth  that  our  course  may  be  straighter  and  steadier  be- 
cause of  this  observation. 

The  legal  profession  is  one  of  the  so-called  learned  and 
liberal  professions.  This  means  that  its  exponents  should 
bring  to  the  exercise  of  their  calling,  higher  qualities  of 
head  and  heart  than  are  demanded  in  the  ordinary  walks 
of  life.  It  is  the  lawyer’s  high  mission  to  bring  to  light, 
and  to  firmly  establish,  the  very  truth. 

In  every  case  he  tries,  the  ideal  lawyer  seeks  "The  truth, 
the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,"  no  matter  how 
darkly  it  may  be  obscured  by  the  base  designs  of  wicked 
men.  It  is  for  this  purpose  that  law  courts  are  established, 
and  juries  of  laymen,  from  the  very  vicinage,  are  called; 
and  all  the  technical  rules  and  hair-splitting  distinctions  of 
the  law,  all  the  complicated  machinery  of  Justice,  have  but 
the  single  end  and  aim  of  ascertaining  and  establishing  the 
truth.  Of  this  vast,  complicated  mechanism  the  lawyer  is 
the  engineer.  He  sets  the  wheels  in  motion.  He  directs 
and  regulates  the  whole.  And  as  the  rights  of  man  attach 
to  everything  in  the  known  world,  and  as  those  rights  are 
frequently  in  dispute,  it  results  that  the  lawyer  deals  with 
the  facts  of  every  science  and  pursuit. 

To-day  he  is  in  a horse  case,  and  must  know  all  the 
details  of  ring-bone,  spavin,  heaves  and  broken  wind ; to- 
morrow he  must  discuss  the  recondite  principles  of  me- 
chanics, and  the  next  day,  perhaps,  try  to  recover  the  wages 
of  a servant  girl.  The  lawyer  probes  the  highest  and  low- 
est springs  of  human  action.  It  is  his  task  to  deal  with  the 
intangible  essence  of  the  mind  and  soul,  to  exactly  weigh 
impenetrable  motives,  to  carefully  define  the  delicate  bal- 


138  MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 

ance  of  the  brain,  marking,  without  mistake,  just  where 
right  reason  leaves  off  and  insanity  begins.  Alone,  unaided, 
ofttimes  without  even  the  feeble  glimmer  of  a single  star, 
he  must  explore  the  dark,  mysterious,  unknown  and  un- 
knowable realm  of  Circumstantial  Evidence.  Through  it, 
he  must  thread  his  way,  along  a devious  path  that  is  full 
of  the  wraiths  of  Justice  gone  astray,  of  black-hearted 
guilt  triumphantly  acquitted  and  innocence  sent  to  its 
grave  in  grief  and  shame.  In  a pathway  full  of  pitfalls,  he 
must  make  no  misstep,  for  on  his  skill  hang  property,  repu- 
tation, yea,  even  life  itself. 

Is  it  not  small  wonder,  then,  that  he  should  often  need 
the  friendly  aid  of  the  physician’s  skill?  Where  so  many 
cases  of  crime,  reputation  and  property  rights  depend  so 
largely  upon  the  most  wonderful  of  all  mysteries,  the  hu- 
man body  and  its  varied  pathology,  is  it  a matter  of  surprise 
that  the  earnest  lawyer  should  make  lavish  drafts  upon  the 
skill  and  learning  of  the  physician  ? 

Many  cases  of  crime  could  never  be  cleared  up  without 
the  testimony  of  expert  physicians,  who,  although  they  may 
know  nothing  about  the  facts  of  the  particular  case,  yet 
from  the  uniform  operation  of  natural  laws,  with  which 
they  are  well  acquainted,  can  testify  as  to  what  probably 
occurred  in  the  case  with  as  much  certainty  as  if  they  had 
been  personally  present  as  eye  witnesses.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  whole  subject  of  expert  testimony  has  been 
admitted  into  the  law,  and  expert  physicians  are  now  per- 
mitted to  testify  as  such,  not  that  they  may  show  off  their 
skill  and  learning,  not  that  they  may  floor  lawyer,  judge 
and  jury  with  the  sesquipedalian  jargon  of  their  technical 
terms,  but  that  they  may  “make  light  the  dark  places,”  and 
“make  plain  that  which  was  hid.”  The  physician  then  be- 
comes a co-worker  with  the  lawyer,  a ministering  priest 
with  him  in  the  snow-white  Temple  of  Truth.  His  best  and 
highest  efforts  should  be  freely  laid  as  a fragrant  offering 


"the  legal  profession."  139 

upon  her  holy  altar.  Advocate  of  neither  side,  foe  to 
neither,  his  sole  desire  should  be  to  make  plain  the  truth, 
let  the  result  be  what  it  may,  and  left  him  beware  lest  he 
trail  his  holy  calling  in  the  dust. 

I have  but  one  word  of  advice  to  offer  to  the  young 
gentlemen  and  ladies  of  the  graduating  class  who  may, 
perhaps  very  soon,  be  called  upon  to  help  the  lawyer  in  the 
courts  as  expert  witnesses : First,  know  thoroughly  what 

you  are  called  to  testifiy  about,  and  then  tell  it  simply  and 
plainly  in  the  queen’s  pure  English,  free  from  the  slightest 
suspicion  of  Latin.  Shun  the  example  of  a recent  gradu- 
ate, who  testified  in  an  assault  and  battery  case,  that  he 
found  the  plaintiff  suffering  from  a severe  contusion  of  the 
integuments  under  the  left  orbit,  with  great  extravasation  of 
blood  and  ecchymosis  in  the  surrounding  cellular  tissue, 
which  was  in  a tumefied  state,  together  with  considerable 
abrasion  of  the  cuticle.  "My  gracious !"  exclaimed  the 
judge,  "was  it  as  bad  as  that?  I thought  his  only  damage 
was  a black  eye."  "Why,  so  it  was,"  said  the  witness,  "that 
is  what  I meant."  "Then,"  roared  the  judge,  "why  in  thun- 
der didn’t  you  say  so?” 

Do  not  be  afraid  of  being  too  simple  and  plain  in  your 
explanations.  It  is  astonishing  what  queer  ideas  jurors 
get,  and  upon  what  wild  tangents  their  verdicts  sometimes 
go  off.  The  famous  Scotch  verdict,  "Not  guilty,  but  he’d 
better  never  do  it  again,"  is  no  overdrawn  burlesque  of 
some  verdicts  which  are  still  actually  rendered. 

I remember  hearing  Mr.  Don  M.  Dickinson,  in  this 
very  room,  on  a similar  occasion,  tell  the  following  incident 
of  his  early  practice : One  of  his  first  cases  was  against  a 
railroad  company  for  damages  because  of  his  client’s  hav- 
ing been  violently  thrown  against  the  back  of  a car  seat, 
striking  across  his  stomach,  and,  as  he  claimed,  totally  dis- 
abling him.  In  the  course  of  his  preparation  of  the  case, 
Mr.  Dickinson  concluded  that  he  would  look  up  a little 


140 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


expert  testimony,  so  he  went  to  his  client’s  family  physician, 
who  said  that  the  man  was  permanently  disabled,  and  gave 
his  reasons  for  his  opinion.  It,  of  course,  pleased  Mr. 
Dickinson  to  learn  that  his  client  was  permanently  disabled, 
but  he  concluded  to  reinforce  his  opinion  with  that  of 
another  physician;  so  that  he  went  to  see  another — and  just 
here  is  where  he  made  a mistake.  He  told  Physician  No.  2 
what  Physician  No.  1 had  said,  and  gave  his  reasons  for  it. 
Physician  No.  2 said  that  the  opinion  of  Physician  No.  1 
was  arrant  nonsense.  Of  course  the  man  was  not  per- 
manently disabled,  and  he  gave  his  reasons  for  his  opinion. 
Somewhat  crestfallen  and  chagrined  to  find  that  his  client 
was  not  so  badly  damaged  as  he  had  hoped,  Mr.  Dickinson 
consulted  Physician  No.  3 and  told  him  the  opinion  of 
Physician  No.  2 and  his  reasons  for  that  opinion.  Physi- 
cian No.  3 was  astonished  and  shocked  to  learn  that  such 
an  idiotic  opinion  had  been  given  by  anyone  claiming  to 
be  a physician,  and  said  that  such  a man  was  a disgrace  to 
their  honorable  profession.  Of  course  the  man  was  per- 
manently disabled,  and  he  gave  his  reasons  for  thinking  so. 
Thus  reinforced,  and  with  his  spirits  cheered  bv  the  thought 
of  his  client’s  permanent  disability,  Mr.  Dickinson  went 
into  the  trial  of  the  case.  There  were  one  lawyer  and  three 
doctors  on  one  side,  and  one  lawyer  and  four  doctors  on 
the  other. 

The  family  phvsician  was  sworn,  and,  in  the  course  of 
his  cross-examination  by  the  attorney  for  the  defendant,  he 
was  asked  what  treatment  he  gave  to  promote  the  peri- 
staltic action  of  the  bowels.  Among  other  questions,  he 
was  asked,  “Did  the  patient  knead  his  bowels?”  and  an- 
swered it  in  the  affirmative.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
testimony,  the  arguments  and  judge’s  charge,  the  jury 
retired  and  promptlv  returned  with  a verdict  for  Mr. 
Dickinson’s  client.  After  the  iurv  were  discharged,  Mr. 
Dickinson  shook  hands  with  them  and  thanked  them  for 
the  verdict.  He  finally  came  to  Michael  Joy,  who,  in  his 


“the  lawyer.”  141 

day,  was  a famous  character  around  the  Court  House,  fre- 
quently serving  on  juries.  “Well,  Mr.  Joy,”  said  Mr. 
Dickinson,  “I  am  very  much  obliged  for  your  verdict.  By 
the  way,  what  do  you  think  of  the  expert  testimony?” 
“Aye,  ixpert  tistimony,”  answered  Mr.  Joy,  “fwhat’s  that?” 
“Why,”  said  Mr.  Dickinson,  “the  testimony  of  the  doctors.” 
“Oh,  the  dochtors !”  exclaimed  Mr.  Joy,  with  a grin,  “the 
dochtors!  Do  a man  nade  his  bowels?  Do  a man  nade 
his  bowels?  Dom  the  dochtors!  say  I.  Let’s  sock  it  to  the 
railroads !” 

I would  not  have  you  think,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  that  this 
eulogy  of  my  profession  is  a fair  and  faithful  picture  of 
every  lawyer  in  it,  for  it  is  not.  To  our  common  shame,  be 
it  said,  that  there  is  empiricism  and  shallow  pretence  in 
both  law  and  medicine,  as  well  as  in  every  other  walk  of 
life.  To  our  common  shame,  be  it  said,  that  there  are 
shysters  as  well  as  charlatans,  pettifoggers  as  well  as  quacks. 
I have  been  talking  of  what  should  be,  not  what  always 
actually  is.  But  it  is  only  by  the  contemplation  of  the  lofty 
ideal  that  we  can  ever  hope  to  lift  the  actual  up  into  its 
purer  ether,  and  it  has  been  with  the  sincere  hope  that  you 
and  I,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  and  all  of  us,  may  bathe  our  spirits 
in  the  lofty  ideal  and  go  hence  cheered  and  refreshed  with 
a holy  determination  to  elevate  and  purify  our  respective 
callings,  that  I have  ventured  to  bring  before  your  vision  a 
few  of  its  many  beauties. 

All  hail,  then,  to  the  Legal  Profession!  We  share  the 
highest  hopes  and  holiest  emotions  of  your  own  sister  call- 
ing. We  are  brothers  and  coadjutors  in  our  search  for  the 
white  light  of  Truth,  and  so  long  as  a wrong  remains  to 
be  righted,  so  long  as  guilt  remains  unpunished  and  inno- 
cence bows  its  head  in  shame,  just  so  long  will  the  profes- 
sions of  law  and  medicine  join  hands  and  hearts  and  jour- 
ney forth  like  knights  of  old,  as  champions  of  the  Right. 


142 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


“THE  LAWYER.” 

Response  by  H.  H.  Wilson,  of  Lincoln,  Neb.,  at  a reunion  of  the  Union 
Literary  Society  of  the  University  of  Nebraska,  June,  1883. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

A lawyer  is  generally  understood  to  be  one  who  will 
talk  with  equal  eloquence  on  either  side  of  any  question — 
for  a valuable  consideration.  And  the  eloquence  usually 
bears  some  proportion  to  the  amount  of  the  consideration. 

It  was,  I believe,  Lord  Brougham  who  said  that  the 
lawyer  should  know  no  God  but  his  client;  and  it  will  be 
generally  conceded,  I think,  that  few  of  them  ever  transgress 
by  pushing  their  inquiries  any  further. 

Of  all  classes  of  the  community,  perhaps  the  lawyers 
are  the  most  peaceable,  which  is  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact 
that  their  time  is  so  fully  occupied  in  conducting  the  quar- 
rels of  others.  It  would,  however,  be  a great  mistake  to 
infer  from  their  quiet  nature  that  they  are  wanting  in  the 
elements  of  fortitude  and  bravery.  An  Irish  advocate  once 
went  so  far  as  to  challenge  his  opponent  to  mortal  combat 
and  fixed  the  place  of  meeting  “in  the  Phoenix  Park,  adja- 
cent unto  the  City  of  Dublin,  and  in  that  part  of  it  entitled 
‘The  Fifteen  Acres/  be  the  same  more  or  less.” 

The  natural  history  of  the  lawyer  presents  many  points 
of  interest.  It  would  seem  that  the  lawyer  is  a result  of 
Darwin’s  Development  of  the  Species.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  he  must  have  had  his  origin  since  the  flood,  for  careful 
examination  fails  to  show  any  mention  of  him  in  the  bill 
of  lading  of  that  memorable  cargo. 

Some  antiquarians  claim  to  have  found  fossil  remains  of 
the  antediluvian  lawyer,  but  either  these  worthy  gentlemen 
have  been  misled,  or  else  the  lawyer  was  not  registered  on 
that  trip,  perhaps  because  he  traveled  on  a pass. 

The  proper  classification  of  the  lawyer,  no  less  than  his 
origin,  has  given  rise  to  much  controversy.  M.  De  Tocque- 
ville  seems  to  regard  him  as  a cross  between  the  aristocrat 


“a  doctor's  impression  concerning  lawyers."  143 

of  England  and  the  revolutionist  of  France,  while  Bentham 
declares  that  he  is  not  an  independent  being  at  all,  but  a 
parasite  subsisting  on  the  vitality  of  others. 

Whatever  difference  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  the  origin 
and  proper  classification  of  the  lawyer,  there  can  be  none 
as  to  the  location  and  extent  of  his  habitat. 

Specimens  may  be  found  in  every  civilized  country  ex- 
cept in  the  Island  of  Utopia,  and  some  have  even  doubted 
the  accuracy  of  Sir  Thomas'  history  because  he  states  posi- 
tively that  no  lawyers  are  to  be  found  on  that  island. 

There  is  a tradition  that  Webster  once  said  of  lawyers 
that  there  is  always  room  at  the  top,  but  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  he  ever  made  so  general  a statement  and 
one  so  derogatory  to  his  chosen  profession,  although  doubt- 
less many  do  have  rooms  to  rent  in  their  upper  story. 

Of  late  years  our  fair  sisters  have  begun  to  doubt  our 
ability  to  conduct  their  quarrels  in  a truly  feminine  spirit 
and  have  demanded  a place  by  our  side. 

We  welcome  them  to  the  forum  of  ennobling  strife  and 
to  share  with  us  the  rewards  of  bloodless  victories. 

And  hereafter  when  we  speak  of  our  honored  profession 
we  must  be  understood  to  embrace  our  sisters-in-law. 


“A  DOCTOR’S  IMPRESSION  CONCERNING  LAW- 
YERS.” 

At  the  first  annual  banquet  of  the  Law  Students’  Association  of  Chicago,  in 
representing  the  Kent  College  of  Law,  the  following  remarks  were 
made  by  Dr.  G.  Frank  Lydston,  one  of  the  lecturers  in 
said  college,  upon  the  above  topic. 

Mr.  Symposiarch,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  requires 

some  assurance  to  enable  one  to  rise  to  his  feet  and  attempt 
to  speak  in 'the  presence  of  such  accomplished  orators  as 
are  present  this  evening,  and  while  listening  to  those  who 
have  already  spoken,  I have  resolved  to  escape  as  easily  as 
I can  by  sticking  very  closely  to  my  text.  Inasmuch  as  the 
text  was  not  taken  from  the  Bible,  this  will  be  comparatively 


144 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


easy  for  me  to  do.  It  may  seem  peculiar  to  some  of  you 
that  a doctor  should  be  called  upon  to  respond  in  behalf  of 
a Law  School.  I can  assure  you,  however,  that  it  is  not  be- 
cause Kent  is  a young  school  and  needs  medical  care.  It 
had  its  teeth  cut  some  time  since,  and  has  passed  through 
all  of  its  infantile  complaints  successfully.  It  has  no  ail- 
ments now,  except  growing  pains,  and  we  do  not  wish  these 
to  be  relieved. 

While  listening  to  the  remarks  of  the  preceding  speaker, 
who  so  ably  represents  the  Chicago  College  of  Law,  I ex- 
perienced a pang  of  keen  regret  that  I had  not  brought 
with  me  a laurel  wreath  for  Kent  College.  But  a ready- 
made wreath  would  not  do,  and  the  manufacturer  from 
whom  I ordered  a custom-made  one,  was  out  of  material 
before  he  got  half  way  round  the  brow  of  Kent.  We  do 
not  need  a halo,  but  are  willing  to  be  in  fashion,  so  that,  in 
case  the  Chicago  College  has  a second-hand  halo,  that  it 
does  not  need  for  its  clients,  we  will  wear  it  for  harmony’s 
sake.  The  fact  is,  I was  selected  because  the  legal  members 
of  the  faculty  are  so  modest  that  they  cannot  bear  to  hear 
themselves  talk — a frequent  complaint  among  law  teachers, 
but  one  which  is  in  no  danger  of  becoming  epidemic  among 
law  students.  Another  excellent  excuse  for  my  being  on 
the  same  planet  with  such  distinguished  legal  lights  as  I 
see  about  this  festive  board,  is  that  I am  a sort  of  a lawyer 
myself.  I am  a lawyer  in  something  the  same  remote  fash- 
ion that  a certain  Kentuckian  was  a colonel.  He  said  that 
he  was  a colonel  by  marriage,  his  wife’s  first  husband  hav- 
ing been  killed  at  Gettysburg.  I am  a lawyer,  not  by  mar- 
riage, for  my  wife’s  relations  were  people  of  the  highest  re- 
spectability, but  by  adoption.  I feel  under  the  deepest  obli- 
gations for  the  opportunity  of  being  with  you  this  evening. 
It  is  seldom  that  I have  a chance  to  study  the  lawyer 
in  his  lair — at  the  banquet  table.  It  is,  indeed,  a blessed 
privilege  to  meet  so  many  kinds  of  lawyers  as  are  present 
to-night.  I see  about  me  about  all  the  varieties  of  the 


“a  doctor's  impression  concerning  lawyers."  145 

genus  lawyer.  Judges,  who  run  law  dispensaries,  where  a 
dram  of  justice  is  so  skillfully  mixed  with  a barrel  of  law, 
that  the  unwary  layman  is  fain  to  take  his  medicine  without 
flinching.  The  law  and  the  lady — the  female  lawyer, 
against  whom  I shall  enter  a replevin  suit  to-morrow — 
cause, — one  lost  heart.  Law  professors  who  toil  not  neither 
do  they  spin,  but  make  a business  of  professing.  Patent 
lawyers,  so  called,  I presume,  because/  like  a country  news- 
paper, they  have  patent  insides — an  attribute  which  is  patent 
enough  to  one  who  has  ever  watched  them  irrigating  or 
feeding  the  inner  man.  Real  estate  lawyers,  who  hold  mort- 
gages on  cemeteries  and  fifteen-story  buildings.  Divorce 
lawyers,  who  act  equally  well  as  attorney,  complainant  or 
defendant,  but  would  shine  with  effulgent  brilliancy  as  co- 
respondent. Corporation  lawyers,  whose  corporations  are 
sometimes  large,  but  often  no  larger  than  common  mortals 
with  good  appetites.  Last,  but  not  least,  that  practical  hu- 
manitarian, the  criminal  lawyer,  whose  clients  are  all  angels 
in  due  time,  and  who  could  have  proven  an  alibi  for  the 
devil  himself,  in  that  famous  affair  in  the  Garden  of  Eden. 
Then  there  is  the  coming  lawyer,  who  is  largely  present  in 
embryo  this  evening  as  the  student  of  law. 

According  to  my  observation,  lawyers  and  doctors  are 
divided  into  classes,  very  much  as  a certain  market  man  in 
Fulton  market,  in  New  York,  divided  his  eggs.  He  had 
a rival  who  made  a specialty  of  Jersey  eggs,  and  was  making 
a howling  success.  Nothing  daunted,  our  friend  placed 
some  baskets  of  eggs  outside  his  door  and  labeled  them  as 
follows: 

Strictly  fresh  eggs  30cts  per  dozen. 

Fresh  eggs  25cts  a dozen. 

Eggs  20CtS. 

Jersey  eggs  I5cts. 

There  may  be  Jersey  eggs  in  the  legal  profession,  but 
they  are  certainly  not  here  to-night. 

The  profession  of  law  has  many  advantages  over  that 


146 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


of  medicine.  No  doctor  wes  ever  known  to  get  himself 
patented.  He  may  consider  himself  a good  thing,  but  he 
dare  not  push  it  along.  The  ethics  of  the  profession  forbid 
it.  We  are  highly  moral  people,  and  consequently  there  are 
no  criminal  doctors.  Even  our  novelists  are  compelled  to 
go  outside  of  the  medical  profession  to  find  their  villains. 
Dr.  Jekyll  must  become  Mr.  Hyde  (who  was  probably  a 
lawyer),  in  order  to  be  interesting.  We  have  no  divorce 
doctors  because  we  are  too  familiar  with  both  sides  of  such 
cases.  We  have  lady  doctors,  but  I object  to  them  as  a 
temptation  to  overdosing,  just  as  I am  opposed  to  lady 
lawyers  as  tempting  one  to  perpetually  litigate.  Corpora- 
tions have  no  use  for  doctors,  because  when  a man  falls 
off  a ten-story  building  and  sits  down  good  and  hard  upon 
his  antipodes,  or  in  that  immediate  vicinity — we  say  that  he 
has  spinal  concussion,  and  the  poor  fallen  man  gets  big 
damages.  You  see  we  doctors  are  practical,  moralistic 
philanthropists,  and  sympathize  deeply  with  poor  fallen 
men.  It  is  no  wonder  that  we  are  all  experts  until  you  fel- 
lows get  after  us.  We  have  no  real  estate  doctors,  because 
we  never  get  rich  enough  to  own  real  estate.  Our  interest  in 
all  buildings  is  largely  theoretical,  and  we  pay  very  dearly 
for  it,  when  the  landlord  is  sharp  enough  to  make  us.  As 
for  the  base  slander  that  we  have  any  interest  in  cemeteries, 
save  as  places  for  cold  storage,  it  is  unworthy  of  grave  con- 
sideration. Indeed,  I may  say  that  it  is  a monumental  lie. 
That  we  are  in  cahoots  with  the  undertaker  is  also  a vile 
calumny.  We  recognize  the  undertaker  as  belonging  to  a 
distinct  profession,  a sort  of  post-medical  profession,  as  it 
were.  We  never  associate  with  them,  but  send  our  office 
boy  to  collect  our  commission.  He  will  henceforth  be  our 
enemy,  for  I understand  that  he  has  adopted  a new  name, 
and  now  calls  himself  a “mortician.”  The  term,  to  be  sure, 
is  more  lucid  than  the  old  one,  and  it  is  certainly  much 
more  euphonious,  but  by  all  the  gods  it  rhymes  with  physi- 
rian  too  prettily  to  suit  me.  Taken  all  in  all,  you  lawyers 


“a  doctor's  impression  concerning  lawyers."  147 

have  the  best  or  it.  I have  noticed,  however,  that  the  two 
professions  resemble  each  other  in  many  respects.  Doctors 
never  attend  funerals,  and  lawyers  give  away  their  tickets 
for  executions.  Neither  the  doctor  nor  the  lawyer  likes  to 
be  caught  red-handed,  with  the  dead  sheep  over  his  shoul- 
der. Both  are  willing  to  forego  the  pleasure  of  being  in  at 
the  death,  but  it  is  surprising  to  note  the  equanimity  and 
unanimity  of  purpose  with  which  they  bob  up  serenly  and 
greet  each  other  in  a probate  court.  You  have  all  heard 
that  old  chestnut  about  the  Irishman,  who,  upon  seeing  the 
epitaph  which  read,  “Here  lies  the  body  of  John  Smith,  a 
lawyer  and  an  honest  man,”  exclaimed  “Be  jabbers,  Mike, 
they  do  be’s  afther  puttin’  two  min  in  wan  grave.”  I thought 
that  story  was  real  funny,  and  told  it  to  one  of  my  lawyer 
friends,  who  reciprocated  by  telling  me  this  little  fable — 
probably  from  Aesop  or  Blackstone,  or  the  Baron  Mun- 
chausen, or  some  other  high  legal  authority.  “Once  upon 
a time  a good  medical  man  was  watching  a funeral  pro- 
cession, and  pondering  awhile  on  the  ‘much  and  goodly 
game  which  he  betimes  had  brought  to  pot,’  a dog,  who 
was  also  watching  the  funeral  train,  said  to  him,  Say  doc, 
ain’t  it  funny?  When  I bury  a bone  I do  it  so  that  I may 
dig  it  up  again  and  pick  it  by  and  by,  while  you  bury  your 
stuff  for  keeps.’  The  doctor  was  a truthful,  Godly  man,  and 
made  reply,  ‘Never  mind,  doggie,  don’t  you  fret,  the  bones 
I bury  are  well  picked  before  I bury  them.’  ” 

But,  seriously,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I esteem  it  a great 
privilege  to  be  associated — no  matter  how  remotely,  with 
the  legal  profession.  The  profession  of  law  is  more  aptly 
termed  a learned  profession  than  either  medicine  or  the 
ministry.  It  is  in  the  profession  of  law  that  the  man  of 
broad  culture  and  scholarly  attainments  receives  his  highest 
appreciation.  My  own  profession  is  so  tainted  with  modern 
so-called  specialism,  that  the  veriest  dunce  may  achieve 
public  notoriety  and  at  least  financial  success.  Too  often 
does  he  receive  the  adulation  of  the  body  medical.  The 


148 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


accomplished,  scholarly,  cultured  physician  is  in  danger  of 
becoming  lost  in  the  race  for  wealth.  It  is  easier  to  pander 
to  a simple-minded  public  by  commercial  shrewdness  than 
to  win  appreciation  of  scholarly  attainments  by  solid  merit. 
So  much  the  worse  for  medicine.  Thank  heaven  that  so 
many  mistakes  are  hidden  by  good  old  mother  earth.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  the  lawyer  has  so  little  respect  for  the 
medical  expert.  Was  it  not  a lawyer  who  divided  witnesses 
into  liars,  d — d liars  and  medical  experts?  Fortunately  the 
so-called  expert  is  not  always  a fair  criterion  of  the  intelli- 
gence and  honesty  of  the  medical  profession. 

The  personnel  of  the  professional  man  has  greatly 
changed  for  the  better  within  a few  decades.  Time  was 
when  the  legal  profession  was  supposed  to  be  represented 
by  a seedy-looking  individual,  with  a lurid  nose  and  a breath 
which  suggested  the  possibility  of  spontaneous  combustion. 
This  individual  had  a little  den  somewhere  in  town,  the 
furniture  of  which  consisted  of  much  dirt  and  a few  law 
books.  Notwithstanding  this  fact,  his  admiring  neighbors 
said  he  could  try  a case  better  when  he  was  drunk  than  some 
men  could  when  sober.  This  apostle  of  the  law  is  now  a 
relic  of  the  past.  The  lawyer  of  to-day  must  be  a clean, 
sober,  cultured  gentleman,  or  a charming  woman,  or  he  or 
she  may  not  rise  above  the  level  of  a shyster.  It  is  no  longer 
considered  unprofessional  to  have  a clean  office  and  a de- 
cent library.  The  old-time  squire  has  been  relegated  to  the 
valley  of  dead  lumber,  along  with  that  good,  old  besotted 
doctor,  who  was  so  awfully  good  for  children  when  he  was 
sober,  and  who  in  all  his  life  never  rose  above  the  dignity 
of  “Doc” — the  most  opprobrious  epithet  ever  applied  to  a 
medical  man. 

In  the  profession  of  law,  talent  and  scholarly  attainments 
soon  find  their  level  in  these  modern  days.  I have  noticed, 
too,  that  there  is  an  esprit  du  corps  among  lawyers  which 
is  sadly  lacking  among  doctors.  I have  observed  that  most 
lawyers  have  much  that  is  good  to  say  of  each  other.  When 


149 


"wampum,  or  the  free  coinage  of  clams/"’ 

a man  distinguishes  himself  in  law,  his  brethren  vie  with 
each  other  in  doing  him  honor.  In  medicine,  the  great 
man’s  achievements  are  brilliant  in  inverse  proportion  to 
his  proximity  to  those  who  comment  upon  them.  There 
is  usually  a qualifying  clause,  a sort  of  damning  with 
faint  praise.  This  is  not  true  of  the  profession  of  law.  It 
would  be  well  if  the  sentiment  of  personal  honor,  which 
every  lawyer  worthy  of  the  name,  cherishes  so  highly, 
could  permeate  every  profession. 

Members  of  the  bar,  I congratulate  you  upon  your 
affiliation  with  so  broad  and  learned  a profession.  Students 
of  the  law,  I congratulate  you  upon-  your  prospective  mem- 
bership in  a profession  in  which  all  of  the  attributes  of  good 
fellowship  are  combined  with  the  highest  appreciation  of 
all  the  good  which  you  can  possibly  accomplish.  What 
greater  incentive  can  be  offered  you,  for  real,  earnest  and 
conscientious  work?  It  should  be  a consolation  to  you  in 
your  hours  of  studious  toil,  to  feel  that  your  light  need  never 
be  put  under  a bushel,  that  your  professional  work  is  sure 
to  count, — not  only  upon  the  public  upon  which  you  de- 
pend for  a livelihood,  but  better  still,  with  the  members  of 
your  own  profession. 


“WAMPUM,  OR  THE  FREE  COINAGE  OF  CLAMS.” 

Response  by  Joseph  C.  Hendrix,  of  New  York  City,  to  toast  “Wampum,”  at 
dinner  of  New  England  Society  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  21,  1894. 

Some  one  has  described  Peter  as  the  shortest  man  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible,  because  he  said:  "Gold  and  silver 

have  I none,”  and  surely  no  one  could  be  shorter  than  that. 
The  North  American  Indian  was  no  better  off  than  Peter 
in  his  gold  reserve  or  silver  supply;  but  he  managed  to  get 
along  with  the  Quahog  clam.  That  was  the  money  sub- 
stance out  of  which  he  made  the  wampum,  and  the  shell- 
heaps  scattered  over  this  island  are  mute  monuments  to  an 
industry  which  was  blasted  by  the  demonetization  of  the 


150  MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 

hard-shell  clam.  Wampum  was  a good  money  in  the  In- 
dian civilization.  It  was  the  product  of  human  labor,  as 
difficult  and  tedious  as  the  labor  of  the  gold  miner  of  to-day. 

It  had  intrinsic  value,  for  it  was  redeemable  in  anything 
the  Indian  had  to  give,  from  his  skill  in  the  chase  to  his 
squaw.  It  took  time,  patience,  endurance  and  skill  to  make 
a thing  of  beauty  out  of  a clam,  even  in  the  eyes  of  an  In- 
dian, but  when  the  squaws  and  the  old  men  had  ground 
down  the  tough  end  of  the  shell  to  the  size  of  a wheat 
straw,  and  had  bored  it  with  a sliver  of  flint,  and  strung  it 
upon  a thew  of  deerskin,  and  tested  its  smoothness  on  the 
nose,  they  had  an  article  which  had  as  much  power  over  an 
Indian  mind  as  a grain  of  gold  to-day  has  over  us.  There 
were  two  kinds  of  wampum.  The  blue  and  the  white.  The 
Montauks  to  this  day  know  that  there  is  a difference  be- 
tween the  two.  The  blue  came  from  our  clam.  The  white, 
which  was  the  product  of  the  periwinkle,  did  not  need  so 
much  labor  to  fit  it  for  use  as  wampum,  and  it  was  cheaper. 
The  blue  was  the  gold;  the  white  was  the  silver.  One  blue 
bead  was  worth  two  white  ones.  The  Indians  did  not  try 
to  keep  up  any  parity  of  the  beads.  They  let  each  kind  go 
for  just  what  it  was  worth.  The  Puritans  used  to  restring 
the  beads  and  keep  the  blue  ones.  Then  the  Indians  strung 
their  scalps. 

Why  was  wampum  good  money  in  its  time?  The  supply 
was  limited.  It  took  a day  to  make  four  or  live  beads.  It 
was  in  itself  a thing  of  value  to  the  Indian  for  ornament.  It 
was  easily  carried  about  from  place  to  place.  It  was  prac- 
tically indestructible.  It  was  always  alike.  It  was  divisible. 
The  value  attaching  to  it  did  not  vary.  It  was  not  easily 
counterfeited.  So  it  was  that  it  became  the  money  of  the 
colonists;  a legal  tender  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  tool  of 
the  primitive  commerce  of  this  continent.  The  Puritan  took 
it  for  fire  water,  and  gave  it  back  for  furs.  Long  Island  was 
the  great  mint  for  this  pastoral  coinage.  It  was  called  the 
“mine  of  the  New  Netherlands  The  Indian  walked  the 


“wampum,  or  the  free  coinage  of  clams/'  15 1 

beach  at  Rockaway,  dug  his  toes  in  the  sand,  turned  up  a 
clam,  and  after  swallowing  the  contents  carried  the  shells 
to  the  mint.  Gold  and  silver  at  the  mouth  of  a mine  obtain 
their  chief  value  from  the  labor  it  takes  to  get  the  metals, 
wampum  was  the  refinement  by  labor  of  a money  substance 
free  to  all.  The  redemption  of  wampum  was  perfect.  To 
the  Indian  it  was  a seal  to  treaties,  an  amulet  in  danger,  an 
affidavit,  small  change,  a savings  bank,  a wedding  ring  and 
a dress  suit.  To  this  day  the  belt  of  wampum  is  the  store- 
house of  Indian  treasure.  In  the  Six  Nations,  when  a big 
chief  made  an  assertion  in  council,  he  laid  down  a belt  of 
wampum,  as  though  to  say  “money  talks”  The  Iroquois 
sent  a belt  of  it  to  the  King  of  England,  when  they  asked 
his  protection.  William  Penn  got  a strip  when  he  made 
his  treaty.  The  Indians  braided  rude  pictures  into  it,  which 
recorded  great  events.  They  talked  their  ideas  into  it,  as 
we  do  into  a phonograph.  They  sent  messages  in  it.  White 
beads  between  a row  of  dark  ones  represented  a path  of 
peace,  as  though  to  say,  “Big  chief  no  longer  got  Congress 
on  his  hands/'  A string  of  dark  beads  was  a message  of 
war,  or  of  the  death  of  a chief,  and  a string  of  white  beads 
rolled  in  mud  was  equivalent  to  saying  that  there  was  crape 
on  the  door  of  Tammany  Hall.  So  you  see  that  it  was  a 
combined  postoffice,  telegraph,  telephone,  phonograph  and 
newspaper. 

The  Iroquois  had  a keeper  of  wampum — a sort  of  sec- 
retary of  the  treasury,  without  the  task  of  keeping  nine  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  money  on  a parity.  This  old  Indian  financier 
had  simple  and  correct  principles.  No  one  could  persuade 
him  to  issue  birchbark  promises  to  pay,  and  to  delude  him- 
self with  the  belief  that  he  could  thus  create  money.  He 
certainly  would  have  called  them  a debt,  and  would  have 
paid  them  off  as  fast  as  he  could.  Nor  can  we  imagine  him 
trying  to  sustain  the  value  of  the  white  wampum  after  the 
Puritans  started  in  to  make  it  out  of  oyster  shells  by  ma- 


152 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


chinery.  Nor  would  he  have  bought  it,  not  needing  it,  and 
have  issued  against  it  his  promises  to  pay  in  good  wampum 
as  fast  and  as  often  as  they  were  presented. 

It  was  said  that  wampum  was  so  cunningly  made  that 
neither  Jew  nor  Devil  could  counterfeit  it.  Nevertheless, 
a Connecticu:  Yankee  rigged  up  a machine  that  so  dis- 
turbed the  market  value  of  the  beads  that  in  a short  time 
the  Long  Island  mints  were  closed  to  the  free  coinage  of 
clams.  Wampum  was  demonetized  through  counterfeiting, 
over-production  and  imitation;  but  when  this  occurred  the 
gentle  Puritan  didn’t  have  enough  of  it  left  to  supply  the 
museums.  The  Indian  had  parted  with  his  lands  and  his 
furs,  had  redeemed  all  of  the  outstanding  wampum  with 
his  labor,  and  when  he  went  to  market  to  get  fire-water,  he 
was  taught  that  he  must  have  gold  and  silver  to  get  it. 
Then  he  wanted  to  ride  in  blood  up  to  his  horses’  bridles. 
Commerce  had  found  a better  tool  than  wampun  had  be- 
come. The  buccaneers  and  the  pirates  had  brought  in 
silver,  and  that  defied  the  Connecticut  man’s  machinery  or 
the  Dutchman’s  imitations.  The  years  pass  by  and  com- 
merce finds  that  silver,  because  of  over-production,  becomes 
uncertain  and  erratic  in  value,  and  with  the  same  instinct 
it  chooses  gold  as  a standard  of  value.  A coin  of  unsteady 
value  is  like  a knife  of  uncertain  sharpness.  It  is  thrown 
aside  for  one  that  can  do  all  that  is  expected  of  it.  Gold  is 
such  a tool.  It  is  the  standard  of  all  first-class  nations.  It 
is  to-day  and  it  will  remain  the  standard  of  this  republic. 

The  value  of  the  gold  dollar  is  not  in  the  pictures  on  it. 
It  is  in  the  grains  of  gold  in  it.  Smash  it  and  melt  it,  and  it 
buys  a hundred  cents’  worth  the  world  over.  Deface  a sil- 
ver dollar  and  fifty  cents  of  its  value  goes  off  yonder  among 
the  silent  stars.  Free  coinage  means  that  the  silver  miner 
may  make  fifty  cents’  worth  of  silver  cancel  a dollar’s  worth 
of  debts.  This  is  a greenback  doctrine  in  a silver  capsule. 
Bimetallism  is  a diplomatic  term  for  international  use. 


i53 


"wampum,  or  the  free  coinage  of  clams." 

Monometallism  with  silver  as  the  metal  is  the  dream  of  the 
Populist  and  of  the  poor  deluded  Democratic  grasshoppers 
who  dance  by  this  moonshine  until  they  get  frostbitten. 

The  free  silver  heresy  is  about  dead.  It  has  cost  this 
country  at  to-day’s  price  for  silver  $170,000,000.  The  few 
saddened  priests  of  this  unhappy  fetich  who  remain  active, 
find  their  disciples  all  rallying  around  the  standard  of  cur- 
rency reform.  The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
is  a confession  of  national  financial  sins,  and  a profession 
of  faith  in  sound  money  doctrines.  Every  business  man 
will  watch  with  keen  interest  the  progress  of  the  plan  for 
a reform  in  our  currency.  You  all  know  that  the  straight 
road  is  the  retirement  of  the  greenback  and  the  Treasury 
note,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  Government  from  the 
banking  business,  and  you  will  naturally  distrust  any  make- 
shift measures.  The  greenback  is  a war  debt,  and  a debt 
that  is  now  troublesome.  We  are  funding  and  refunding 
it  in  gold  daily,  and  are  still  paying  it  out  as  currency  to 
come  back  after  gold.  Any  scheme  to  sequestrate  it,  to  hide 
it  under  a bushel,  or  to  put  it  under  lock  and  key  is  a shal- 
low device.  The  way  to  retire  it  is  to  retire  it.  It  has  served 
its  full  purpose,  and  there  never  was  a better  time  than  now 
to  call  it  in. 

In  twelve  years  all  of  our  Government  debt  matures. 
The  national  banking  system,  based  upon  it,  must  expire 
with  it  unless  existing  laws  are  changed.  This  system  has 
served  the  nation  well.  No  one  has  ever  lost  a dollar  by  a 
national  bank  note.  The  system  is  worth  preserving,  and 
with  a little  more  liberal  treatment  it  can  be  made  to  serve 
until  a currency,  based  upon  commercial  credits  and  linked 
to  a safety  fund,  a system  which  works  so  admirably  in 
Canada,  can  be  engrafted  upon  it.  There  is  a great  hurry  to 
create  such  a system  now  on  a basis  of  the  partial  seques- 
tration of  the  greenback  and  the  Treasury  note,  but  the 
bottom  principle  is  wrong.  The  Government  should  dis- 


154 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


courage  a commercial  credit  currency,  based  upon  a public 
credit  currency,  which,  in  turn,  rests  upon  a slender  gold 
deposit,  exposed  to  every  holder  of  a Government  demand 
note.  A credit  currency  is  a double-edged  tool,  and  needs 
to  be  handled  with  great  care.  We  have  had  so  much  of 
crazy-quilt  finance  that  I am  sure  that  we  want  no  more  of 
it.  We  have  been  sorely  punished  for  our  financial  sins  in 
the  past,  and  now  that  we  are  repentant,  we  want  to  get 
everything  right  before  we  go  ahead  with  our  full  native 
energy.  We  have  suffered  from  the  distrust  of  the  world 
and  then  from  our  own  distrust.  In  retracing  our  steps,  let 
us  be  sure  that  we  are  on  solid  ground,  and  make  our 
“wampum”  as  good  as  the  best. 


CHAUNCEY  M.  DEPEW  TO  TRAMPS. 

On  Christmas  eve,  1896,  Dr.  Chauncey  M.  Depew  dined  with  a New  York 
woman  reporter  and  50  tramps  at  the  St.  Denis  hotel,  in  New  York  City.  Dr. 
Depew  was  formally  invited,  but  the  tramps  were  recruited  from  a long  line 
of  nondescript  beggars  which  had  formed  in  front  of  a bakery  across  from  the 
St.  Denis  where  bread  was  being  distributed  free  of  charge. 

It  is  Christmas  Eve,  and  I hope  we  have  all  begun  the 
hours  that  lead  to  Christmas  in  a proper  way — that  is,  by 
filling  ourselves  as  full  as  we  can  with  the  good  things  of 
this  world. 

I have  presided  at  many  dinners  and  attended  many 
more — perhaps  more  than  any  man  in  New  York — but 
certainly  never  did  I preside  over  or  attend  a dinner  from 
which  I have  derived  more  real  pleasure  than  from  this 
dinner  here  to-night. 

The  dinners  to  which  I am  sometimes  invited  are  for 
political  or  patriotic  purposes,  but  usually  they  have  no 
other  object  except  that  the  gentlemen  who  are  present, 
who  are,  as  a rule,  workingmen  of  affairs,  desire  to  be  re- 
lieved in  some  way  and  they  take  the  occasion  of  a dinner 
as  one  that  will  afford  them  an  opportunity  to  have  a good 
time. 


CHAUNCEY  M.  DEPEW  TO  TRAMPS. 


155 


I have  been  a student  of  that  method  of  enjoyment  for 
a great  many  years.  I have  read  of  the  great  dinners  they 
had  in  Rome,  when  a man  would  spend  his  entire  fortune, 
great  as  those  fortunes  were,  to  entertain  an  emperor. 

I have  also  read  of  the  dinners  which  are  told  of  in  the 
Bible — notably  of  that  great  feast  given  by  Belshazzar, 
which  was  the  most  magnificent  feast  that  was  ever  spread, 
we  are  given  to  understand,  but  which  was  brought  to  a 
sudden  and  awful  termination  by  the  handwriting  on  the 
wall. 

But  many  of  the  dinners  to  which  I go  seem  to  me  to 
fill  no  purpose.  There  are  the  big  feed  and  the  studied  ora- 
tions, and  when  it  is  all  over  the  impression  it  leaves  on  me 
is  that  there  are  the  bores  and  the  bored — the  orators  being 
the  bores,  and  the  listeners  being  the  bored. 

There  is  only  one  of  the  great  historical  dinners  that 
really  interested  me.  That  is  the  one  that  is  told  of  in  the 
New  Testament,  where  the  guests,  failing  to  answer  or  send- 
ing excuses,  ihe  host  found  his  tables  unoccupied.  Then 
it  was  that  he  told  the  people  of  his  household  to  go  out  in 
the  highways  and  byways  and  gather  in  all  whom  they 
might  find.  I would  like  to  have  been  at  that  dinner.  I 
have  pictured  it  often  in  my  mind.  Had  the  guests  who  had 
been  invited  attended,  some  of  them  would  have  criticised 
the  wines  of  the  host,  saying  they  had  better  in  their  own 
cellars ; others  would  have  criticised  the  food  and  declared 
that  their  own  cooks  could  have  prepared  finer  dishes. 
Then,  as  he  departed,  "each  would  shake  the  hand  of  the 
host  hypocritically  and  bid  him  good-night  with  the  false 
statement  that  he  never  had  a better  time  or  a better  dinner 
in  his  life. 

In  my  mind’s  eye  I can  see  some  of  the  guests  who  at- 
tended that  feast.  One  was,  perhaps,  the  student  who,  in 
striving  after  distinction  in  a profession,  had  neglected  to 
provide  for  his  material  wants  and  was  in  distress.  Another 


1 56  MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 

1 

was,  perhaps,  the  skilled  mechanic  out  of  a job,  wanting 
only  the  opportunity  to  work,  but  failing  to  find  it.  I can 
picture  the  lawyer  without  clients,  and  the  playwright  who 
had  grown  discouraged  because  he  could  not  sell  his  play 
and  had  become  destitute  in  his  search  for  a purchaser.  I 
can  see  there,  too,  the  poet  or  the  author,  whom  publishers 
had  not  recognized,  but  who  was  destined  to  become  a 
great  man  in  the  literature  of  the  future.  I can  see  there, 
too,  the  professional  tramp,  who  would  do  everything  but 
work,  but  absolutely  refused  to  do  that.  The  professional 
tramp,  more  completely  than  any  other  type  of  man  on 
earth,  meets  the  biblical  description  of  the  lily  of  the  field. 
He  toils  not,  neither  does  he  spin,  yet  Solomon,  in  all  his 
glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these. 

We  meet  here  this  Christmas  eve,  and  the  occasion  is  one 
that  suggests  a few  things  to  me — to  all  of  us.  No  mat- 
ter how  fortunate  or  unfortunate  we  may  be,  Christmas 
eve  should  be  an  hour  of  rejoicing.  Whether  we  are  in 
luck  or  whether  we  are  not  in  luck,  we  cannot  forget  that 
this  hour  is  the  one  that  led  to  the  coming  of  Christ  to  this 
earth.  He  came  as  the  great  leveler.  It  was  his  mission  to 
inculcate  doctrines  that  would  wipe  out  despotism  and  in- 
justice. 

Surely,  if  we  look  back  at  the  conditions  that  prevailed 
when  Christ  came  on  earth  and  at  the  conditions  to-day,  we 
must  admit  that  the  doctrines  which  he  taught  mankind 
have  accomplished  wonderful  results  in  leveling  despotism 
and  injustice.  But  for  those  doctrines  there  never  could 
have  been  a United  States  of  America.  But  for  those  doc- 
trines there  never  could  have  been  a country  where  all  men 
were  equal  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  But  for  those  doctrines 
there  would  never  have  been  institutions  of  education  which 
the  children  of  all  men  could  enjoy. 

If  a man  has  the  element  of  hope  in  his  heart  he  can 
and  will  find  a landing  place  from  which  he  can  start  afresh 


CHAUNCEY  M.  DEPEW  TO  TRAMPS. 


157 


in  the  journey  of  life,  no  matter  how  dark  his  past  has  been. 
You  may  say  that  it  is  easy  for  a man  like  me  to  make  such 
a statement  as  that.  But,  my  friends,  it  has  been  my  privi- 
lige  during  the  last  thirty  years  to  come  in  contact  with 
men  who  have  encountered  the  most  discouraging  condi- 
tions of  life.  I have  seen  men  who  were  in  magnificent 
circumstances  go  to  the  gutter  through  rum.  I have  seen 
them  conquer  the  appetite,  and,  having  conquered  it,  gain 
new  courage.  I have  seen  them  starting  from  that  new 
landing  place,  work  up  and  up  again  until  they  reached  their 
proper  sphere. 

I have  a case  in  mind.  A boy  started  in  life  with  me 
up  in  Peekskill.  In  the  villages  of  this  State,  when  1 was 
a boy,  all  the  lads  knew  each  other  by  their  first  names  and 
played  together.  The  brightest  fellow  among  all  of  the 
boys  became  a skilled  mechanic,  married  a beautiful  girl, 
had  a lovely  home,  became  foreman  of  the  shop  in  which 
he  worked,  and  was  in  line  to  become  a partner  in  the  con- 
cern. He  became  imbued  with  the  desire  to  enter  public 
life.  In  his  efforts  to  be  a good  fellow,  and  to  make  those 
whose  favor  he  sought  think  that  he  was,  he  became  a 
patron  of  the  village  saloons. 

The  taste  for  liquor  was  hereditary  in  that  man,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  he  became  an  outcast,  the  worst  tramp 
I ever  knew,  so  filthy  in  himself  that  he  became  known 
throughout  the  village  as  “Dirty  Blank.”  His  family  left 
him  and  his  friends  forsook  him  and  he  drifted  to  New  York. 

One  night  he  followed  a band  of  Salvation  Army  men 
and  women  to  jeer  at  them.  In  some  way  they  caught  him, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  marching  with  them, 
beating  the  drum,  and  exhorting  others  to  turn  from  their 
evil  ways  as  he  had  done.  As  soon  as  he  got  on  his  feet 
he  went  back  to  Peekskill.  His  condition  was  so  changed 
that  his  wife  and  children  returned  to  him,  his  friends  lent 


158 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


him  a helping  hand,  and  to-day  he  is  justice  of  the  peace 
there  and  is  highly  respected  by  all  who  know  him. 

I know  what  it  is  to  be  in  hard  luck  myself.  I belong 
to  a family  that  has  the  trait  of  always  worrying  about  things 
that  don’t  happen.  My  father  died  of  worrying,  and  my 
grandfather  died  of  worrying,  and  I had  almost  made  up 
my  mind  that  l would  die  of  worry.  For  the  first  thirty 
years  of  my  life  I worried  enough  to  have  shuffled  off  this 
mortal  coil  and  climbed  the  Golden  Stairs. 

But  I had  good  lungs,  good  heart,  good  stomach,  and 
good  muscles,  and  somehow  I couldn’t  die.  Then  I had  a 
hard  blow.  I lost  every  dollar  I had  in  the  world.  My 
father  was  one  of  those  men  who  believed  that  a boy  should 
be  thrown  out  into  the  world  to  hustle  for  himself  if  he  was 
ever  going  to  amount  to  anything.  I went  to  him  with  my 
troubles.  All  he  did  was  to  cry.  I did  not  want  tears.  I 
wanted  greenbacks.  I wanted  help,  not  sympathy. 

I thought  then  that  my  jig  was  up  for  sure,  and  for -a 
time  was  very  much  down  in  the  heart.  But  I found  noth- 
ing in  that,  and  one  day,  thank  God,  I came  to  realize  that 
this  was  a bright  and  beautiful  world.  I said  to  myself  that 
the  great  majority  of  people  seem  to  get  along  in  some  way, 
if  they  did  what  was  right.  So  I declared  that  I would  go  to 
work,  stop  worrying,  cultivate  cheerfulness  and  try  to  be 
merry. 

The  result  of  that  philosophy  is  that  for  twenty  years  I 
have  been  trying  to  get  fun  out  of  everything.  If  it’s  work, 

I get  fun  out  of  that.  If  I am  at  sea  during  a hard  blow 
and  everybody  else  is  so  sick  that  they  wish  they  were  dead, 

I try  to  get  fun  out  of  that,  too.  I am  always  trying  to  get 
a chance  to  laugh.  The  result  is  that  I have  reversed  the 
hereditary  conditions  which  nature  put  in  me,  but  which 
God  never  intended  that  a man  should  be  afflicted  by.  I 
cultivated  hope  until  I became  an  optimist.  I came  to  be- 
lieve that  to-morrow  would  be  better  than  to-day,  and  if  . 


CHAUNCEY  M.  DEPEW  TO  TRAMPS. 


159 


to-morrow  was  not,  then  I simply  believed  that  it  was  the 
wrong  day,  and  that  the  next  day  would  be  better. 

I believe  that  the  trouble  with  most  of  us  is  that  we  get 
in  a rut.  We  get  in  the  procession,  and  we  cannot  get  out 
of  it.  We  want  something  a little  better  than  the  chance 
that  is  given  to  us  at  the  time.  We  are  not  willing  enough 
to  take  the  chance  that  we  have  presented  to  us. 

Up  in  Peekskill,  a town  which  originates  pretty  nearly  all 
the  things  that  are  worth  thinking  about  in  this  world,  and 
in  which  I had  my  origin,  they  used  to  have  a habit  in  old 
times  of  always  following  a hearse  at  a funeral.  A Peeks- 
killer  who  had  come  down  to  New  York  and  died,  was  to 
be  “planted,”  as  Peekskillers  say.  Some  of  his  New  York 
friends  went  up  to  the  funeral.  They  took  carriages  and 
got  into  the  procession  to  follow  the  hearse.  After  a while 
they  noticed  that  they  were  riding  over  very  rough  ground 
and  that  the  carriage  was  swaying  from  side  to  side  in  such 
a manner  as  to  threaten  to  spill  them  all  out.  One  of  the 
New  York  dudes  stuck  his  head  out  of  the  carriage  window 
and  shouted  to  the  driver: 

“Hi,  there!  What  the  deuce  are  you  trying  to  do?  Do 
you  want  to  break  our  necks?  Where  are  you  taking  us 
to,  anyway?”  The  old  Peekskill  driver  leaned  over  and  an- 
swered : “Well,  I’ll  tell  you,  gents,  the  horses  with  the 

hearse  started  to  run  away  ten  minutes  ago,  and  they’re 
running  vet,  and,  you  know,  up  here  in  Peekskill  it’s  the 
rule  for  the  mourners  to  follow  the  hearse,  and  I ain’t  going 
to  break  it.” 

Now,  it’s  not  a good  rule  to  follow  the  hearse.  If  you’ve 
been  doing  it,  stop. 

When  a man  finds  himself  in  the  wrong  procession,  the 
best  thing  for  him  to  do  is  to  get  out.  When  the  chance 
comes  it  may  not  be  at  a very  inviting  landing  place,  but  if 
it  gives  him  an  opportunity,  and  if  he  has  the  courage  and 
pluck,  and  sobriety  to  take  advantage  of  it,  and  does  so,  he 


i6o 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


is  on  the  way  to  make  all  his  Christmases  Merry  Christ- 
mases. 

^ An  old  friend  of  mine  was  to  build  a line  of  railroad  in 
the  west  that  is  now  connected  with  a system  with  which 
I have  something  to  do.  He  had  worked  himself  up  from 
the  bottom  and  became  general  manager  of  a small  com- 
pany. The  line  which  he  was  engaged  to  build  was  through 
a section  of  country  inhabited  by  farmers  who  had  never 
seen  a railroad.  The  line  was  built,  and  the  train  stood  on 
the  tracks  ready  to  make  the  trial  trip.  A prominent  old 
farmer  of  the  region  went  to  my  friend  and  told  him  that 
he  had  ridden  about  everything  from  a bucking  broncho 
to  a steer,  but  he  had  never  ridden  a railroad,  and  he’d  like 
to  do  it.  So  he  was  invited  on  that  trial  trip.  The  train 
whizzed  along  and  he  was  mighty  amazed.  He  happened 
to  look  out  of  the  window  just  as  the  train  was  crossing  a 
trestle.  Seeing  no  ground  underneath  him,  he  became  badly 
frightened  and  fell  on  his  knees  in  an  attitude  of  prayer. 
My  friend  looked  at  him  for  a minute  and  said: 

“Why,  Farmer  Smith,  what’s  the  matter  with  you  ? 
What  are  you  doing?” 

“Well,”  said  the  old  farmer,  “I’m  praying  to  the  Lord 
that  when  this  old  train  lights  and  smashes  I will  be  spared.” 

So  it  is  with  many  of  us  as  we  travel  on  the  train  of  life. 
We  look  out  and  we  see  no  ground  under  us  and  we  fear 
a smash.  But  we  are  really  on  a trestle,  and  if  we’ll  push 
along  we’ll  get  on  solid  ground  again. 

I wish  you  one  and  all  a Merry  Christmas  to-morrow, 
and  an  opportunity  to  work  and  to  prosper  during  the  com- 
ing year.  I wish  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  that  you 
will  all  start  out  to-night  with  new  hope. 

My  own  experience  has  taught  me  that  when  one  has 
nothing  but  good  luck  in  life  he  does  not.  amount  to  much. 
In  every  knockdown  there  is  a lesson  which  teaches  us  to 
avoid  rocks  over  which  we  have  fallen.  The  road  is  full 


"the  federal  judiciary.”  161 

of  these  rocks,  but  after  a time  we  learn  to  avoid  them, 
and  every  time  that  a man  arises  after  a serious  fall  and 
realizes  that  he  is  still  strong  enough  to  push  on  the  element 
of  hope  becomes  a stronger  part  of  his  nature. 


“THE  FEDERAL  JUDICIARY.” 

Response  of  Judge  P.  S.  Grosscup,  of  Chicago,  at  a banquet  of  the  Illinois 

Bar,  July  16,  1896. 

I had  intended  to  grow  eloquent  on  this  subject  until  I 
heard  the  last  speaker,  and  he  has  taught  me  that  common 
sense  is  the  acme  of  judicial  virtue.  After  hearing  General 
Black  this  morning  on  “John  Marshall,”  I must  confess  I 
would  rather  have  his  career  than  any  other.  He  has  influ- 
enced development  in  this  country  far  more  than  either 
Washington  or  Lincoln.  They  were  part  of  the  great  move- 
ments  of  their  time.  John  Marshall  was  a great  move- 
ment in  himself,  and  built  the  judicial  structure  of  which  we 
are  the  heirs  and  beneficiaries.  When  the  constitutional 
convention  was  held  in  1777,  only  the  seed  was  planted,  and 
no  one  knew  to  what  a growth  it  would  come.  In  Mar- 
shall’s mind  alone  was  the  seed  germinated  Which  has 
brought  forth  what  we  call  America. 

Marshall  was  the  personification  of  the  federal  judiciary. 
It  was  Marshall  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
that  developed  all  those  great  qualities  which  mark  the  re- 
public’s achievements.  The  clause  that  the  law  of  the 
United  States  should  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  was 
Marshall’s.  Out  of  that  has  grown  the  great  system  by 
which  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  lays  hands 
on  all  others,  consolidates  and  unifies  all  judicial  tribunals 
of  this  country,  preventing  any  locality  from  tarnishing  or 
destroying  the  national  honor;  that  has  developed  all  the 
transportation  facilities  of  this  land  so  that  they  have  been 
made  a single  department  of  a central  government.  I see 
among  us  our  senior  Senator,  and  I say  to  him  and  to  you 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


162 

that,  in  my  judgment,  the  man  who  has  given  this  clause  the 
first  legislative  sanction  has  a place  more  resplendent  than 
eight  years  of  the  presidency  will  give  him. 

We  have  fallen  on  times  which  may  seem  somewhat 
strange.  /The  judiciary  of  the  United  States  had  to  bear, 
however,  much  from  popular  clamor  and  fanaticism  100 
years  ago.  It  is  to  Marshall  and  the  Supreme  Court  ol  the 
United  States  that  I owe  it  that  my  allegiance  has  not  to 
travel  through  Springfield  before  it  reaches  Washington.  If 
I violate  the  law  of  the  country,  the  punishment  comes  from 
Washington  direct. 

The  judiciary  of  the  United  States  represents  the  great 
middle  class — the  bulk  of  the  population  between  the  crim- 
inal rich  and  the  restless  poor,  who,  after  all,  are  the  salt  and 
savor  of  our  institutions.  No  man  in  America  has  the  mon- 
opoly of  humanitarianism.  The  federal  judiciary  cannot 
mark  equality,  but  it  can  make  conditions  better.  We  are 
continually  going  upward.  From  bivouac  to  bivouac  we 
climb  still  to  a greater  height  in  our  march  of  progress. 
Humanity  is  not  going  to  Calvary.  It  is  on  the  road  to  the 
culmination  of  the  teachings  of  Him  who  on  the  hills  of 
Galilee  said : “Go  forth  and  teach  all  the  world  what  I have 
told  you.”  Humanity  is  not  going  forth  to  be  crucified  on 
a cross  of  gold  nor  to  wear  a crown  of  thorns.  It  is  going 
upward  toward  that  golden  effulgence  of  humanity’s  resur- 
rection morning. 


“THE  ADVOCATE.” 

Response  by  J.  J.  McCarthy,  of  Duluth,  at  the  Iowa  State  Bar  Association 
Banquet,  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  July  20,  1896. 

In  a broad  and  popular  sense  the  advocate  is  a person 
authorized  and  permitted  by  law  to  argue  cases  in  court. 
In  Great  Britain  the  distinction  is  clearly  made  between  the 
counselor  and  the  advocate — the  counselor  never  trying  a 
cause  to  court  or  jury,  this  being  the  province  of  the  advo- 


"the  advocate.”  163 

cate.  But  in  this  country  the  distinction  is  abolished.  Here 
the  advocate  is  the  lawyer  and  the  lawyer  is  the  advocate. 
The  terms  are  synonymous.  The  duties  of  the  one  are 
inseparable  from  those  of  the  other.  The  relations  of  each 
are  the  same.  In  the  few  minutes  that  are  allotted,  instead 
of  attempting  to  discuss  the  art  of  presenting  causes  in  court 
and  jury,  the  methods  of  proper  and  successful  procedure  in 
trials  of  actions,  I prefer  to  make  a few  general  observa- 
tions, which  in  the  presence  of  recent  occurrences,  as  appears 
to  me  are  suitable  to  the  subject  assigned. 

A study  of  the  advocate  of  the  past — the  advocate,  the 
lawyer,  of  the  old  school — the  contemporary  of  Blackstone 
and  of  Chitty,  or  Webster  and  of  Choate,  challenges  our  ad- 
miration and  should  demand  our  greatest  respect.  In  these 
modern  times  of  resolutions  and  platforms,  of  whereases  and 
harangues,  of  insinuations  and  epithets,  coming  from  large 
assemblages  of  our  people,  where  the  advocate,  the  lawyer, 
nay,  even  the  judges  of  the  highest  court  on  earth,  are  re- 
ferred to'  with  distrust  and  disfavor;  when  to  be  a lawyer, 
and  especially  a corporation  lawyer,  is,  in  the  opinion  of 
many,  a sufficient  disqualification  for  political  preferment, 
we  of  the  profession  should  not  sit  idly  by  without  inquiring 
the  cause.  This  seems  to  be  a modern  tendency,  and  in  the 
light  of  passing  events  cannot  and  should  not  be  overlooked 
by  the  bench  and  bar  of  the  time. 

In  times  past  the  advocate,  the  lawyer,  instead  of  being 
held  up  as  a person  to  be  shunned,  distrusted  and  avoided, 
was  the  special  recipient  of  political,  business  and  social 
preferment.  And  why  not?  In  those  times  none  were 
permitted  to  appear  in  court  in  behalf  of  a client  to  plead 
the  cause  of  right  and  truth,  but  men  of  the  highest  char- 
acter and  integrity,  men  of  pure,  patriotic  and  honest  lives, 
possessed  of  lofty  and  noble  traits,  educated,  learned  men, 
who  held  culture,  refinement  and  patriotism  and  personal 
honor  above  mere  success  and  worldly  gain;  above  every- 


164 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


thing.  In  those  times  advocacy  was  a profession,  not  a 
trade;  it  was  a science,  not  a commercial  enterprise.  The 
advocate  was  at  once  counselor,  guardian,  teacher,  friend. 
He  must,  above  all  and  beyond  all,  be  a man  of  the  most 
perfect  integrity;  this  was  the  first  and  most  essential  re- 
quirement. He  was  obliged,  without  pay,  to  give  the  ut- 
most care  and  attention  to  every  detail  of  his  client’s  cause ; 
he  must  correctly  and  honestly,  before  appearing  in  court, 
explain  to  his  client  the  law  and  at  his  peril  warn  him  of 
the  least  transgression  of  it;  he  must  never  undertake  a 
cause  which  may  seem  to  himself  unjust  or  dishonest,  nor 
at  any  cost  must  he  permit  himself  to  be  made  the  instru- 
ment of  spite,  malice  or  ill  will.  Unpleasant  truths,  when 
necessary  of  expression,  were  couched  in  language  of  com- 
mendable forbearance  and  modesty  which  always  bespoke 
the  true  gentleman.  The  betraying  of  a professional  secret 
or  the  making  use  of  professional  information  for  pecuniary 
gain  or  other  ignoble  purposes,  though  seldom  occurrences, 
were  cursed  and  despised.  A violation  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree of  any  of  these  rules  and  requirements  was  always  pun- 
shed,  which  in  every  instance  amounted  to  removal  from 
practice  before  the  courts,  and  often  by  fine  and  imprison- 
ment, besides.  In  those  days  the  breach  of  a professional 
trust,  the  advocacy  of  a known  dishonest  and  unjust  cause 
or  the  gaining  of  a case  by  unscrupulous  means  were  not 
only  loathed  and  hated  by  the  public,  but  the  judges  upon 
the  bench  and  the  legal  profession  saw  to  it  that  there  was 
visited  upon  the  wrongdoer  the  full  penalties  of  the  law. 
In  those  days  the  violation  of  a law  of  the  land  had  some 
meaning;  and  the  violation  of  the  law  of  the  land  by  the 
advocate  or  lawyer  met  with  as  sure  and  certain  a punish- 
ment as  did  that  of  the  humblest  citizen;  and  the  infraction 
of  a rule  of  professional  ethics  was  invariably  followed  by 
professional  dishonor  and  condemnation  from  bench  and 
bar. 


"the  advocate.”  165 

After  continuing  his  eloquent  tribute  to  the  practitioner 
of  former  days  at  some  length,  Mr.  McCarthy  proceeded: 

History  bears  evidence  of  the  truth  of  all  I have  said  of 
the  advocate  of  the  last  century.  And  notwithstanding 
mutterings  of  discontent  and  the  severe  public  and  private 
criticisms  that  are  heard  concerning  the  lawyer  of  to-day, 
yet  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  the  great  majority  of  the  Ameri- 
can lawyers  now  at  the  bar,  although  surrounded  by  differ- 
ent and  more  tempting  environments,  are  as  honest,  able, 
honorable  and  patriotic  as  those  that  have  gone  before  them 
in  any  age  or  time.  It  is  the  dishonest  and  disreputable 
pettifogging  trickster  that  brings  disgrace  and  distrust  upon 
the  profession.  The  one  who  packs  a jury  and  suborns 
witnesses  but  wins  his  case,  makes  money,  holds  his  posi- 
tions of  honor  and  moves  in  good  society,  is  the  person  who 
robs  the  true  advocate  of  his  rightful  place  and  brings  un- 
merited condemnation  upon  the  profession.  The  advocate 
whose  purpose  is  to  win  his  cause  by  fair  or  foul  means, 
takes  or  gives  a bribe,  and  yet  continues  at  the  bar  and 
fraternizes  with  his  fellows  in  the  profession,  is  the  man  who 
is  known  and  talked  about  in  the  community.  In  short,  the 
unreliable  trickster  is  known  to  everyone  and,  unlike  his 
fellows  in  former  times,  is  tolerated  at  the  bar  without 
scarcely  a word  of  protest  or  reproach  from  the  reputable 
members  of  the  profession.  He  should  be  disbarred  and 
removed  from  practice  and  exposed  to  the  public  gaze. 
The  public,  however,  is  much  to  blame.  How  often  in  this 
age  of  commercial  enterprise,  in  this  time  of  worship  of 
the  almighty  dollar,  do  we  hear  the  standing  and  the  ability 
of  the  advocate  measured  by  the  cases  he  has  won  in  court 
— the  number  of  verdicts  he  has  secured.  No  question  is 
made  as  to  the  means  employed  to  win  this  case.  He  won 
it,  and  that’s  all  that’s  to  it.  It  may  be  a trick,  it  may  be 
by  intentional  concealment  of  facts,  it  may  be  by  some  im- 
position upon  the  judge,  it  may  be  by  packing  the  jury  or 
the  manufacturing  of  perjured  testimony  or  an  appeal  to 


1 66  MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 

the  baser  passions  of  men.  Such  verdicts  are  barren  vic- 
tories. They  bring  merited  disgrace  upon  lawyers,  courts 
and  juries.  The  lawyer  that  will  resort  to  such  methods 
does  not  deserve  the  name  of  lawyer.  He  should  be  dis- 
barred as  well  as  punished,  and  the  time-honored  profession 
to  which  we  belong  owe  it  to  themselves  and  to  the  public 
to  take  a step  forward  in  this  direction. 

In  other  countries  the  judges  upon  the  bench  are  looked 
to  by  the  reputable  members  of  the  profession  for  protection 
against  the  corrupt  and  dishonest.  But  there  they  have  an 
independent  judiciary,  free  from  the  influences  of  the  ward 
caucus  and  the  political  lawyer.  The  judges  upon  our 
benches,  although  generally  men  of  high  character  and  abil- 
ity, are  only  members  of  the  bar  selected  for  a time  from 
among  their  fellows,  and  too  often  they  find  it  to  their  in- 
terest to  pass  over  without  notice  gross  violations  of  law 
and  legal  ethics.  Such,  in  my  opinion,  are  the  things  that 
bring  ridicule,  denunciation  and  distrust  upon  the  profession 
at  large.  But  the  public  should  remember  that  such  conduct 
is  the  exception,  not  the  rule.  The  profession  should  not  be 
condemned  because  of  the  transgressions  of  a few  of  its 
members.  The  true  advocate  is  he  that  with  honest  and 
high-minded  motives  appeals  to  the  court  or  jury  for  a just 
and  fair  disposition  of  his  client’s  cause ; he  that  in  every 
way  possible  endeavors  to  enlighten  the  court  or  jury  on  the 
law  and  facts  in  the  case;  he  who  looks  upon  the  judge  as 
the  sworn  and  impartial  administrator  of  justice,  rather  than 
a partisan  referee  in  a game  of  chance ; he  that  accords  to 
the  jury  their  historic  and  time-honored  province  as  guard- 
ians of  the  liberties  of  the  common  people  as  against  the 
avarice  of  man  and  the  tyranny  of  rulers ; he  that  looks  upon 
jurors  as  men  of  integrity  and  common  sense,  rather  than  as 
men  selected  to  decide  questions  of  fact  according  to  their 
prejudices  or  as  personal  favors  to  friends;  he  that  conceives 
his  true  province  to  be  the  obtaining  from  courts  and  juries 
of  just  and  honest  decisions;  he  that  maintains  in  the  spirit 


“NEBRASKA  HARVEST."  1 67 

and  letter  of  our  own  statute  the  respect  due  to  the  courts  of 
justice,  that  advocates  or  counsels  no  actions  or  defenses 
except  those  which  appear  to  him  legal  and  just,  who  em- 
ploys only  such  means  as  are  consistent  with  truth,  who 
never  under  any  possible  circumstances  seeks  to  mislead  the 
judge  upon  the  bench  by  any  artifice,  false  statement 
of  fact  or  law,  or  by  any  indirection  or  trick,  who  holds 
sacred  the  confidence  and  secret  of  his  client,  who  abstains 
from  offensive  personalities,  who  in  the  trial  of  a cause  ad- 
vances no  fact  or  argument  to  the  prejudice  of  honor  or 
reputation  of  a witness  or  a party,  who  never  encourages  the 
pressing  of  a cause  before  a court  from  any  motive  of  inter- 
est or  passion,  and  who  never  rejects,  for  considerations  per- 
sonal to  himself,  the  cause  of  the  poor,  defenseless  or 
oppressed. 


“NEBRASKA  HARVEST  ” 

“The  vintage  is  ripe,  the  harvest  is  heaping. 

But  some  that  have  sowed  have  no  riches  for  reaping.” 

— Thomas  Hood. 

Response  by  E.  M.  Bartlett,  of  Omaha,  at  a complimentary  dinner  to  the 
millers  of  Nebraska,  given  by  the  Bemis  Omaha  Bag  Company, 
at  Omaha,  Neb.,  August  31,  1896. 

Mr.  Toastmaster  and  Fellow  Millers : 

While  I am  deeply  sensible  of  the  honor  of  being  invited 
to  this  magnificent  spread,  I was  at  a loss  to  know  why  I 
should  be  asked  to  speak  at  a dinner  where  practical  millers 
are  supposed  to  carry  off  the  honors.  I explained  to  Mr. 
Peters,  your  genial  host,  when  invited  to  speak,  that  I was 
not  a miller  but  a lawyer.  He  informed  me  that  I was  the 
same  as  a mill.  I asked  him  how  he  made  that  out,  and  he 
replied  to  me:  “You  are  a high  roller  and  will  grind  all 

right  with  the  lubricating  you  will  receive  at  the  banquet." 
At  this  suggestion  I surrendered.  When  I look  over  the  list 
of  gentlemen  here,  who  were  selected  to  address  this  com- 
pany, I congratulate  myself  that  I am  not  the  only  one  whose 


1 68 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


grinding  process  consists  solely  in  that  which  nature  has 
supplied,  and  I can  understand  the  fine  discriminating  care 
with  which  he  has  fitted  and  adjusted  the  several  parts  of  the 
machinery  of  this  mill,  so,  you  see,  the  mill  is  justified  in 
thus  addressing  the  miller. 

“Nebraska’s  Harvest.”  In  view  of  Nebraska’s  bountiful 
crop  of  1896  I feel  that  I have  been  assigned  to  an  exceed- 
ingly fertile  field.  I wish  I could  do  it  justice. 

In  the  farmer’s  life  the  harvest  is  that  period  of  solemn 
work  from  which  the  profits  or  losses',  the  reward  or  penalty, 
attached  to  toil  and  labor  are  ascertained.  It  is  that  time 
which  demonstrates  whether  the  husbandman,  so  to  speak, 
shall  gather  “grapes  of  thorns  or  figs  of  thistles.”  “What 
shall  the  harvest  be?”  is  the  ever  anxious  inquiry  from  seed 
time  down  to  storing  the  product  in  the  granaries.  The  de- 
vout old  lady  expressed  the  idea,  when  driving  past  one  of 
those  beautifully  and  regularly  planted  cornfields,  the  seem- 
ingly convergent,  pennoned  rows  standing  in  graceful,  wav- 
ing uniformity,  appearing  to  the  eye  as  all  such  cornfields 
do,  beautiful  beyond  description  when  sown  with  a lister, 
she  remarked,  “The  corn  groweth  where  ’tis  listed,  but 
whether  there  will  be  a crop  or  not  the  Lord  only  knows.” 

Formerly  the  farmer’s  capacity  for  grain  raising  was 
limited  to  the  necessities  of  his  family  for  food  and  seeding 
purposes.  The  miler  ground  his  grain  into  flour  for  home 
consumption  merely.  Then  no  one  could  rob  the  farmer 
but  the  cheerful,  plump  and  lusty  miller — and  he  wouldn’t. 
This  is  why  the  miller  is  erroneously  handed  down  to  us  in 
poetry  and  song  as  both  honest  and  jolly,  two  qualities 
which,  according  to  Shakespere,  do  not  always  fraternize 
in  the  same  individual,  but  which,  nevertheless,  we  must 
admit  are  concordant  in  the  breast  of  each  guest  here  to- 
night. 

Modern  invention  has  developed  the  farmer’s  capacity 
for  cultivating  the  field,  so  that  now  he  feeds  the  world. 


“NEBRASKA  HARVEST.”  1 69 

He  no  longer  takes  the  result  of  the  harvest  to  the  miller 
in  a large  bag  on  horseback,  grain  on  one  side  and  stone 
ballast  on  the  other,  but  to  the  advance  agent  of  the  miller, 
the  grain  buyer,  and  he  in  turn  to  that  mysterious  structure 
by  the  railroad  track  that  elevates  the  product  but  not  the 
price,  and  to  the  individual  the  product  of  the  harvest  there- 
after becomes  a myth — a sort  of  iridescent,  scintillating  will 
o’  the  wisp,  or  like  the  wind,  “It  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and 
thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it 
cometh  and  whither  it  goeth.”  It  changes  ownership  with- 
out delivery.  Men  buy  it  without  seeing  the  object  of  their 
purchase,  unload  it  without  the  aid  of  brawn  or  shovel,  and 
have  nothing  to  prove  the  deal  save  the  burden  of  loss ; but 
eventually  it  finds  its  way,  as  if  by  magic,  to  the  mill,  and 
I fear  that  under  the  new  roller  process  the  farmer,  the 
buyer,  the  miler,  and  all,  except  the  mammoth  mills,  are 
ground  in  the  milling.  And  finally  it  appears  transfigured 
upon  our  tables,  the  staff  of  life,  and  it  glides  into  our  deeper 
self  with  a mild  and  gentle  sympathy  that  steals  away  the 
sharpness  of  its  journey  thither  ere  we  are  aware. 

“The  Harvest.”  The  poet  and  historian  have  sur- 
rounded the  hardships  incident  to  sowing  the  seed  and 
“gathering  in  the  sheaves”  with  all  the  consolation  that 
magnificent  word  painting  can  produce,  but  the  husband- 
man in  the  operation  of  his  farm  has,  in  a practical  way,  sur- 
passed the  poet  in  his  most  lofty  flights  of  imagination.  He 
rides  his  plow,  his  harrow,  his  seeder,  his  harvester,  with  all 
the  grace,  dignity  and  complaisance  of  the  muses  on  their 
winged  Pegasus.  No  more  does  the  ancient  barn  floor, 
strewn  with  shining  straw,  respond  to  the  music  of  the  flail. 
The  cradle  and  the  flail  are  things  of  the  past,  and  even  the 
old  threshing  machine,  once  so  cumbersome  and  rebellious, 
wooed  now  by  the  magic  and  seductive  fascinations  of  steam 
and  electricity,  surrenders  all  and  does  the  work  of  horse 
and  man.  Now  the  harvest  is  looked  forward  to  not  as 


170 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


that  time  when,  after  it  is  garnered,  the  husbandman  may 
sink  into  hopeful  contemplation,  in  the  gentle  stillness  of 
October  days,  and  see  visions  of  plenty  surrounded  by  mirth 
and  happiness,  but  as  the  time  when  the  sale  of  the  prod- 
uct shall  enrich  the  laborer,  make  him  worthy  of  his  hire 
and  powerful  among  his  fellows. 

May  the  farmer  have  riches  for  his  reaping,  and  let  us 
hope  by  some  good  stroke  of  fortune  large  crops  may  be 
accompanied  by  liberal  prices  to  the  husbandman  and  to  the 
miller.  I wish  that  every  grain  of  “Nebraska’s  Harvest” 
could  be  ground  in  Nebraska  roller  mills. 

The  toast  suggests  another  harvest  which  has  been  gath- 
ered in  this  State  the  harvest  of  glory  and  honor  that  has 
been  bestowed  by  the  nation  upon  young  Nebraska’s  fa- 
vored sons.  This  is  a non-political  and  non-sectarian  com- 
pany. We  may  therefore  feel  a just  pride  in  this  harvest 
without  respect  to  party  or  creed.  A.  U.  Wyman,  of 
Omaha,  was  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  during  two  sep- 
arate periods,  under  Presidents  Grant,  Hayes,  Garfield,  Ar- 
thur and  Cleveland.  Our  townsman,  Chares  F.  Mander- 
son,  who  graced  the  position  of  United  States  Senator  from 
Nebraska  for  twelve  years,  was  chosen  as  its  President  by 
the  United  States  Senate.  J.  Sterling  Morton,  of  Nebraska 
City,  one  of  our  honored  guests  this  evening,  is  now  a mem- 
ber of  the  President’s  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  Agriculture 
of  the  United  States.  In  this  year  of  our  Lord  Charles  E. 
Bentley,  of  Lincoln,  was  chosen  by  the  National  Prohibition 
Convention  which  met  at  Pittsburg,  Penn.,  in  May.  John 
M.  Thurston,  of  Omaha,  present  junior  United  States  Sen- 
ator, was  chosen  chairman  of  the  National  Republican 
Convention,  which  met  at  St.  Louis  in  June.  William  J. 
Bryan,  of  Lincoln,  ex-Congressman  from  Nebraska,  was 
nominated  by  the  Democratic- Populist  National  Conven- 
tion at  Chicago,  in  July,  for  President  of  the  United  States. 
William  V.  Allen,  of  Madison,  our  senior  United  States 


"brotherhood  of  railroad  brakemen.”  1 71 

Senator  from  Nebraska,  was  made  chairman  of  the  National 
Populist  Convention  at  St.  Louis,  in  July.  The  presidency 
of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of  America  was  bestowed 
upon  an  Omaha  citizen  at  the  National  Convention  which 
met  at  Omaha  in  July.  James  M.  Wool  worth,  of  Omaha, 
was  elected  President  of  the  American  Bar  Association 
which  met  at  Saratoga  in  August,  and  it  is  said  that  our 
townsman,  Thaddeus  S.  Clarkson,  will  be  elected  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  at 
Minneapolis  this  month.  Even  the  Pope  of  Rome  has  sought 
Nebraska  and  given  the  highest  honor  ever  conferred  by  the 
Church  upon  an  American  citizen — the  title  of  Count, 
granted  to  our  honored  citizen  and  townsman,  John  A. 
Creighton. 

We  may  feel  that,  with  such  a harvest  of  distinguished 
honors,  our  young  Commonwealth  is  one  of  the  brightest 
stars  in  the  galaxy  of  States, — Nebraska,  whose  fertile  soil 
yields  more  wealth  in  grain  than  is  produced  by  the  min- 
eral output  from  other  States ; "whose  sons  are  all  boys  and 
whose  daughters  are  all  girls the  fame  of  whose  statesmen 
and  financiers  is  coextensive  with  the  boundaries  of  the 
globe,  and  whose  orators  have  demonstrated,  and  are  still 
demonstrating,  that  even  the  zephyrs  from  Heaven  have  no 
monopoly  on  wind.  I have  endeavored  to  follow  the  time- 
honored  custom  of  occasions  like  this,  of  talking  as  far  from 
the  subject  as  possible,  and  now,  in  conclusion,  I desire  to 
propose  this  sentiment  for  our  guests : "The  millers  of  Ne- 
braska : May  they  never  grind  the  poor  nor  be  ground 

themselves.  May  all  the  ends  they  aim  at  be  the  hopper, 
the  best  flour  and  largest  profits.” 


172 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


“BROTHERHOOD  OF  RAILROAD  BRAKEMEN.” 

Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  at  Burlington,  Iowa,  at  a banquet  given  at  the 
National  Convention  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Brakemen, 
in  the  City  of  Burlington,  Iowa,  October  19,  1865 • 

Mr.  President,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

I deem  this  a most  interesting  occasion  and  an  honor  to 
be  invited  to  address  you.  The  assembling  of  delegates  of 
the  “Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Brakemen”  in  our  beautiful 
city,  at  their  annual  reunion,  is  a compliment  to  this  me- 
tropolis. The  freedom  of  our  city  and  the  hand  of  welcome 
have  been  extended  in  a fitting  manner  by  our  chief  execu- 
tive. The  history  of  this  association,  its  phenomenal  growth, 
its  splendid  membership,  the  good  that  it  has  done,  its 
promising  future,  have  been  descanted  upon  in  words  like 
“apples  of  gold  set  in  pictures  of  silver”  by  the  eloquent 
gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me.  I am,  therefore,  some- 
thing like  a mariner  at  sea  without  a compass,  at  a loss  to 
know  what  course  to  pursue.  As  a last  hope  I turn  to  your 
motto,  “Benevolence,  Sobriety,  Industry,”  as  the  chart  from 
which  I will  take  my  bearings. 

Industry,  though  last  named,  is  one  of  the  brightest 
beacon  lights  of  your  trinity  of  principles,  is  a foundation 
rock  of  your  order.  It  must  run  like  a silver  thread  through 
all  your  actions  if  you  would  reach  the  grand  results  aimed 
at  by  your  brotherhood.  It  is  the  water-wheel  that  runs 
your  institution ; lower  the  supply  the  wheel  becomes  silent, 
the  mill  idle.  I can  safely  assert  that  nine-tenths  of  the 
brakemen  of  this  country  are  young  men.  Therefore,  a 
fellow  feeling  prompts  me  to  address  my  remarks  particu- 
larly to  you. 

The  all-wise  Being  has  seen  proper  to  create  no  two 
persons  exactly  alike ; no  two  leaves  in  the  forest  similar  in 
all  their  parts ; no  two  things  in  nature  one  the  precise 
counterpart  of  the  other.  As  our  physical  forms  are  differ- 
ent, so  are  our  mental  attributes,  personal  character,  am- 


"brotherhood  of  railroad  brakemen.”  173 

bitions,  inclinations  and  desires  of  the  heart.  It  is  in  the 
morning  of  youth  that  the  future  man  is  molded.  Thus  it  is 
essential  during  youth’s  development  and  when  the  mind  is 
best  capable  of  being  guided  for  good  or  evil,  that  you 
shape  your  destiny  and  select  your  part  in  the  great  drama 
of  life.  If  you  are  not  imbued  with  the  true  spirit  of  in- 
dustry and  morality,  inspired  with  lofty  aspirations  and 
ambitions,  you  may  well  write  your  prospects  of  success 
upon  the  running  waters.  It  is  said,  "Cultivate  the  physical 
exclusively  and  you  have  an  athlete  or  a savage,  the  moral 
only,  you  have  an  enthusiast  or  a maniac ; the  intellectual 
only,  you  have  a diseased  oddity,  it  may  be  a monster.  It  is 
only  by  wisely  training  all  three  together  that  the  complete 
man  can  be  formed.”  Forget  not  this  rule.  "Take  care  of 
the  moments  and  the  hours  will  take  care  of  themselves.” 
Your  occupation  is  a peculiar  one;  while  on  duty  your 
moments  are  busily  employed,  but  when  off  you  have  long 
hours  of  rest.  It  is  during  this  period  of  bodily  and  mental 
quiet  recreation  that  your  passions,  like  the  smoldering 
volcano,  are  liable  to  burst  forth  and  master  your  better 
judgment.  Thus  it  may  be  while  under  the  shadow  of  the 
demon’s  wing  you  may  violate  the  second  cardinal  principle 
of  your  brotherhood.  Remember,  "This  above  all ; to  thine 
own  self  be  true,  and  it  must  follow  as  the  night  the  day, 
thou  can’st  not  then  be  false  to  any  man.” 

Laws  are  made  to  protect  our  rights  and  redress  our 
wrongs.  The  State  is  willing  to  shield  us  in  the  enjoyment 
of  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,”  yet  it  makes 
no  provision  to  protect  the  widow  and  orphan.  What  a con- 
soling thought  it  must  be  to  a member  of  your  order  to 
know  that  should  dread  disease,  or  unexpected  accident  call 
you  to  the  land  beyond,  the  strong  right  arm  of  your  brother- 
hood will  be  thrown  around  your  loved  ones  and  bring  them 
aid,  solace  and  comfort.  Be  true  to  your  order,  for  it  is  the 
cross  to  which  your  wife  and  child  must  cling  when  the 


174 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


dreadful  hour  of  final  separation  arrives,  the  ark  in  which 
they  take  refuge  when  alone  on  the  tempestuous  waves  of 
life’s  uncertain  sea. 

The  daily  routine  work  of  a brakeman  is  filled  with 
hazard  and  danger.  Yet,  willingly,  fearlessly,  he  performs 
it.  He  knows  that  “when  duty  calls  it  is  his  to  obey.”  Ob- 
serve him  at  his  post,  ever  on  the  alert.  When  earth  is  im- 
mersed in  Egyptian  darkness  or  when  in  noonday  sunlight  he 
acts,  he  labors  amid  the  perils  of  his  chosen  vocation.  What 
is  that  sound?  It  is  the  shriek  of  the  whistle,  he  grasps  his 
lantern,  out  through  the  window  he  springs,  runs  over  the 
sleet-covered  cars,  faces  the  fierce,  merciless  winds,  turns 
the  brakes,  returns  to  his  post  ready  to  respond  to  the  next 
call  of  duty,  be  it  the  particular  switch  to  turn,  or  the  danger- 
ous coupling  to  make.  So  his  work  goes  on  until  the  watch- 
ful eye  of  a superior,  appreciating  moral,  industrious  habits, 
advances  him  a round  on  the  ladder  of  promotion.  That  a 
young  railroad  man,  combining  perseverance  and  industry, 
can  reach  the  topmost  round  is  amply  illustrated  in  the  life 
and  success  of  the  manager  of  the  greatest  line  of  railroad 
that  runs  through  our  State. 

History  is  also  replete  with  instances  where  from  humble 
parentage  and  the  lowly  walks  of  life  young  men  have  risen 
to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  fame.  There  is  Captain  Cook,  the 
circumnavigator  of  the  globe,  born  in  a mud  hut,  and 
started  in  life  as  a cabin  boy.  Admiral  Nelson  was  a cox- 
swain in  his  youth.  Lord  Eldon,  the  son  of  a coal  merchant. 
Franklin,  the  philosopher,  was  the  son  of  a half-starved 
weaver.  Heyne,  the  renowned  German  scholiast,  was  born 
in  a poor  peasant’s  cot.  Burns,  the  bard  of  Scotland,  ate 
the  coarse  bread  of  labor.  The  youthful  poet,  Kirke  White, 
was  the  son  of  a butcher.  Whitefield,  the  renowned  pulpit 
orator,  was  the  son  of  a tavern  keeper.  Lincoln  was  a rail- 
splitter  ; Grant,  a tanner ; Cleveland,  the  humble  preacher’s 
son,  and  many  other  most  encouraging  illustrations. 


“ST.  VALENTINE."  v 175 

“Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Brakemen,"  you  have  my 
sincerest  wish  for  your  future  prosperity.  I live  in  the  hope 
to  see  your  order  take  its  place  among  the  great  benevolent 
societies  of  this  country,  second  to  none.  Your  benevolent, 
charitable  deeds  shine  forth  in  this  working-day  life  as  the 
stars  in  heaven.  Let  the  glory  of  God  run  like  a golden 
thread  through  all  your  actions  and  you  will  stand  forth 
before  the  world,  loved  and  respected  by  your  fellow  men. 


“ST.  VALENTINE." 

Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  of  Burlington,  Iowa,  at  a reception  and  banquet 
given  by  the  Des  Moines  Press  Club,  at  Hotel  Aborn, 

Des  Moines,  Iowa,  February  14,  1888. 

The  perspective  of  the  past  is  pictured  with  many  beauti- 
ful legends  and  traditions.  The  antiquities  of  the  common 
people  form  an  interesting  study.  It  is  said  by  the  eminent 
writer,  John  Brand,  “that  by  the  chemical  process  of  phi- 
losophy, even  wisdom  may  be  extracted  from  the  follies  and 
superstitions  of  our  forefathers."  The  dim  light  from  the 
candles  of  long  ago  often  causes  the  student  to  despair  in 
seeking  the  origin  of  the  superstitious  notions  and  cere- 
monies of  the  people.  Though  the  fountain  head  of  the 
streams  which  have  carried  these  traditions  down  the  cen- 
turies may  never  be  reached,  still  there  is  enough  on  the 
charts  of  other  lands  to  indicate  where  they  were  first  per- 
ceived to  flow. 

In  responding  to  the  toast,  “St.  Valentine,"  I may  be 
permitted  to  recall  the  tradition  of  “Valentine’s  Day."  It  is 
said  that  there  is  unquestionable  authority  to  show  that  the 
custom  of  choosing  valentines  was  a sport  practiced  in  the 
houses  of  the  gentry  of  England  as  early  as  in  the  year  1476. 
In  England,  Scotland,  and  Lorraine  and  Maine  in  France, 
the  eve  of  the  14th  of  February  was  celebrated  by  a very 
peculiar  and  amusing  custom.  An  equal  number  of  maids 
and  bachelors  would  assemble  together,  and  write  the  names 


176 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


of  acquaintances  upon  little  billets,  which  they  deposited  in 
a vessel.  The  maids  would  then  draw  the  men’s  billets  and 
the  men  the  maids’.  The  person  thus  drawn  becomes  one’s 
valentine.  Fortune  thus  having  divided  the  company  into 
so  many  couples,  the  valentines  give  balls  and  engage  in 
other  festivities.  Upon  these  occasions  they  wear  their 
billets  upon  their  bosoms  or  sleeves,  and  this  little  sport 
often  ended  in  love  and  a happy  marriage. 

St.  Valentine’s  Day  still  remains  with  us  as  one  of  the 
most  popular  of  festivals.  The  young,  of  to-day,  and  may 
I not  include  the  silver  locks,  feel  still  a throbbing  of  the 
heart  on  the  eve  of  that  to-morrow  which  may  bring  them  a 
valentine.  The  care  and  sorrow,  and  the  weary  toil  of  a 
busy  life,  is  brushed  aside  by  memories  of  this  day.  The 
father,  the  mother,  receives  a valentine  from  their  ringlet- 
crowned  boy.  It  is  a dear,  little  billet  of  love,  from  the 
sweetest  creature,  to  them,  on  earth.  He  sends  another  to  a 
blue-eyed  playmate.  He  had  thought  of  her,  for  he  wrote 
with  childish  trembling  her  name  on  this  white-winged  mes- 
senger. For  the  time,  thoughts  of  hobby-horses,  marbles 
and  ball  are  displaced  by  the  outlines  of  a fancy,  a vision,  a 
dream  just  forming,  and  here  can  it  not  be  said  that  the 
light  of  a pure,  holy  love  is  just  entering  the  soul.  A few 
years  are  hidden  by  the  hills,  and  the  “lips  of  the  boy  in  a 
love  kiss  unite  with  the  lips  of  the  maid  whom  his  bosom 
holds  dear.”  Pardon  me,  I must  draw  the  curtain,  for  you 
all  know  how  it  ends. 

For  some  days  past  the  windows  of  the  storekeeper  have 
had,  almost,  the  appearance  of  a fairy  grotto — valentines, 
beautiful  in  design,  dazzling  with  gilt  and  silver,  have  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  passer-by.  The  society  belle 
dressed  so  richly  and  warmly  in  ermine,  the  humble  factory 
girl  in  calico  and  light  shawl,  obviously  stand  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  reading  the  mottoes  and  verses  on  these  ready 
messengers. 


"ST.  VALENTINE.”  177 

It  is  an  assumption  of  mine,  though  based  on  no  tradi- 
tion, and  I doubt  whether  it  can  be  found  in  the  books,  that 
the  modern  “society  paper”  can  serve  the  purpose  of  a 
valentine.  Have  you  ever  had  the  pleasure  to  glance  at  its 
tinted  pages,  and  then  soberly  reflect  upon  the  verses,  and 
the  sweet  culled  flowers  from  the  realm  of  prose,  therein  con- 
tained? Have  you  not  anxiously  scanned  its  columns  to  see 
whether  your  toilet  had  been  properly  described,  and  your 
personal  appearance  duly  appreciated  by  a competent  judge? 
for,  as  Byron  poetically  has  it: 

" ’Tis  pleasant,  sure,  to  see  one’s  name  in  print; 

A book’s  a book,  altho’  there’s  nothing  in’t.” 

You  will  not  be  doing  violence  to  your  “distracted  globe” 
by  harboring  the  thought  that  from  such  as  these  the  world 
may  gain  another  Meredith,  Ik  Marvel  or  Lord  Byron. 
Again,  I must  beg  your  kindly  indulgence,  and  merciful 
criticism,  while  I continue  to  harmonize  and  endeavor  to 
apply  the  thought  of  the  valentine  to  the  modern  newspaper, 
and  its  editor. 

I first  must  request  you  to  visit  with  me  a sanctum  in 
which  an  embryo  Horace  Greeley  is  busily  at  work.  With 
great  hazard  to  life  and  limb,  in  ascending  to  the  top  story, 
a winding  passage,  for  all  the  world  like  the  catacombs  of 
Rome,  we  finally  reach  his  august  presence.  He  is  there. 
Also  the  scissors  and  paste  pot ; but,  oh,  what  an  odor.  Does 
it  resemble  the  ravishing  perfume  of  “Pyrrhus,”  “May 
Flowers,”  “New  Mown  Hay,”  or  the  indescribable  odor 
from  the  famous  vessels  of  China?  Recovering  from  our 
semi-asphyxiated  condition,  we  take  the  liberty  to  gaze 
upon  his  expansive  brow,  reaching  from  his  chin  to  the 
collar  button  on  the  back  of  his  neck.  His  unwashed  hand 
rests  upon  this  broad,  comprehensive  dome,  “as  motionless 
as  a painted  ship  on  a painted  ocean.”  He  is  thinking.  He 
is  endeavoring  to  lasso  his  thoughts  which  have  stampeded, 
like  a herd  of  Texas  steers.  Well,  he  grabs  a pencil  and 


i78 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


endeavors  to  head  off  the  “Leader”  by  “Register”-ing  a 
“News”  item,  which  is  a “Capital”  idea.  The  fleeing 
thoughts  are  corralled,  and  with  the  rapidity  of  a trip- 
hammer he  pounds  the  white  paper  and  blackens  it  all  over 
with  carbon  marks.  We  have  become  interested,  as  page 
after  page  of  “copy”  is  thrown  behind,  like  miles  after  a 
“G-whiz  train.”  Fearing  that  perpetual  motion  may  set  in, 
we  timidly  approach,  and  for  the  sake  of  information  ask 
him  the  pertinent  question,  in  kind  of  a moralizing  way, 
“What,  sir,  eventually  becomes  of  the  thoroughly  wicked 
and  depraved?”  He  looked  up,  thought  a moment,  and 
said,  “They  will  edit  a country  newspaper  for  a little  while, 
and  eventually  go  to  the  Legislature.”  I hazarded  another 
question.  It  was  this : “I  presume  you  find  editing  a news- 
paper a very  lucrative  employment,  and  as  a consequence 
you  must  necessarily  live  in  a brown-stone  front,  surrounded 
by  all  the  comforts  of  life?”  He  slowly  shook  his  head,  and 
without  saying  a word,  reached  for  his  hip  pocket — “it” 
wasn’t  there,  he  had  left  it  at  home  on  the  piano  wrapped  up 
in  a lace  handkerchief.  Concluding  that  the  tongue  is 
mightier  than  the  pistol,  he  avenged  himself  by  telling  us  a 
story.  “Listen,”  he  gently  murmured.  “Once  upon  a time 
a bold,  bad  burglar,  of  the  the  Climber’  sort,  appre- 
ciating that  the  editor  of  a newspaper  is  the  chief  man  in 
a town,  presumed  him  also  to  be  very  rich.  He  entered  the 
editor’s  house  one  night,  and  after  searching  in  vain  for 
gold  watches,  currency  and  diamond  rings  without  success, 
it  flashed  upon  him  that  he  had  wronged  the  supposed  mil- 
lionaire, so,  opening  his  heart,  he  thereupon  generously 
slipped  $1.25  into  the  pocket  of  the  sleeping  editor.  Next 
morning  when  the  editor  discovered  the  great  wealth  that 
had  been  thust  upon  him,  he  almost  fainted  with  ecstatic 
joy.  He  at  once  thought  that  it  had  been  quietly  placed  in 
his  pocket  by  a good  and  rich  neighbor,  who  owned  a big 
distillery  and  lectured  on  temperance.  So,  for  weeks,  he 


“ST.  VALENTINE-’ 


179 


filled  his  columns  with  choicest  editorials  in  praise  of  this 
good  man,  who  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  ever 
after  the  two  men  were  the  best  of  friends.  Thus  do  good 
actions  always  meet  their  reward.” 

Come,  now,  let  us  leave  his  presence,  for  soon  the  sun 
will  begin  to  “brush  away  the  stars,”  and  the  merry  voices 
of  the  newsboys  will  be  heard  to  cry  out,  “Here’s  your 
morning  paper.”  “All  about  John  L.  Sullivan’s  flirtation 
with  the  Queen  of  England,”  “James  G.  Blaine  telegraphs 
that  he  is  not  a candidate  for  President,  but  he  will  get  there 
just  the  same,”  “President  Cleveland  has  defined  the  main 
issue  for  the  next  national  election,”  “All  about  Senator 
Finn’s  great  speech  favoring  the  railroads  of  Iowa.”  And 
thus  the  news  from  all  countries  enters  our  home  each 
morning  with  as  much  relish  and  fond  pleasure  as  bachelors 
and  maids  receive  their  valentines  on  this  day.  In  our  wild, 
mad  rush  down  the  hill  of  life,  we  seldom  stop  to  think  of 
the  labor,  expense  and  thankless  efforts  of  the  press  in  the 
up-building  of  our  communities.  Some  regard  them  as 
“common  carriers,”  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  paper  to 
do  this,  and  say  that,  all  for  the  “dear  people’s  sake,”  and 
may  it  not  be  truthfully  said  that  the  people,  like  republics, 
are  sometimes  ungrateful.  Here  we  see  a candidate  for 
office,  lifted  by  the  press  from  the  utmost  depths  of  ob- 
scurity to  the  topmost  round  of  the  ladder  of  fame,  where 
ofttimes  stands  Fortune  with  her  horn  of  plenty.  From  his 
lofty  perch  he  forgets  to  look  down  the  valley  to  those  little 
“printing  offices”  where  men  of  genius  and  brains  first 
blazed  the  trail  and  then  made  clear  his  way. 

I conclude  with  the  beautiful  and  eloquent  words  bor- 
rowed from  Thackeray  in  speaking  of  the  “press 

■“There  she  is;  she  never  sleeps.  She  has  her  ambassa- 
dors in  every  quarter  of  the  world — her  couriers  upon  every 
road.  Her  officers  march  along  with  the  armies,  and  her 
envoys  into  statesmen’s  cabinets.  They  are  ubiquitous, 


i8o 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


Yonder  journal  has  an  agent  at  this  moment  giving  bribes 
at  Madrid,  and  another  inspecting  the  price  of  potatoes  at 
Covent  Garden.” 


“THE  SACRED  MISTLETOE/' 

Response  by  YV  W.  Dodge,  at  a banquet  given  on  the  occasion  of  the  Thirty- 
seventh  Annual  State  Convention  of  the  United  Ancient  Order  of 
Druids  of  Iowa,  at  Burlington,  Iowa,  June  14,  1893. 

Members  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Druids,  Ladies  and  Gen- 
tlemen : 

The  military  law  teaches  us  that  the  first  duty  of  the 
soldier  is  to  obey.  It  is,  therefore,  in  briefly  addressing  you, 
like  a true  soldier,  I perform  the  pleasing  duty  assigned 
me  by  the  local  committee  of  Druids. 

In  1856,  ten  years  after  Iowa  had  cast  aside  her  territo- 
rial dress  for  that  of  Statehood,  the  Druidical  pioneers 
planted  the  first  Grove  of  Druids  in  the  fertile  bosom  of  this 
Commonwealth,  here  in  the  city  of  Burlington.  This  city 
was  then  the  gateway  through  which  civilization  passed  to 
the  wonderful  country  situated  in  this  great  northwest.  Is 
it  then  a matter  of  wonderment  that  in  Burlington,  thirty- 
seven  years  ago,  the  first  Grove  of  the  United  Ancient  Order 
of  Druids  should  have  been  established?  As  our  fathers  in 
those  days  welcomed  the  brotherhood  of  Druids  and  helped 
plant  the  first  Grove  in  Iowa,  we,  the  sons  of  those  grand 
old  pioneers,  propose  to  extend  to  you,  one  and  all,  the 
same  sincere,  hearty  and  cordial  greeting  as  those  of  our 
parents  in  the  days  of  ’56. 

I am  not  honored  with  a membership  in  your  Order, 
and  therefore  cannot  speak  to  you  as  a brother.  Though  I 
have  never  been  led  through  the  labyrinths  of  a Druids’ 
Grove,  and  have  never  sat  beneath  the  sacred  oak  entwined 
with  the  mystic  mistletoe  and  participated  in  a sacrifice,  yet 
it  is  my  pleasure,  as  a non-member,  to  join  in  these  festivi- 
ties. The  pleasures  and  enjoyments  of  this  day  serve  in 


f‘THE  SACRED  MISTLETOE.”  l8l 

part  to  commemmorate  those  of  your  Druid  fathers  of  long 
ago,  who,  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  with  formal  and 
pompous  ceremony,  as  soon  as  the  sacred  mistletoe  was 
discovered  entwining  the  no'  less  sacred  oak,  collected  in 
large  numbers  about  the  tree;  a banquet  and  sacrifice  was 
prepared ; a priest  in  white  vestments  cut  the  twig  with  a 
golden  sickle;  two  other  white-robed  priests  caught  it  in  a 
white  cloak;  two  milk-white  heifers  were  instantly  offered 
up,  and  the  remainder  of  the  day  was  spent  in  rejoicing. 

Astonishment  meets  us  when  we  undertake  the  task  of 
tracing  the  history  and  origin  of  the  Order  of  Druids. 
Especially  is  this  so  as  they  did  not  allow  their  tenets  and 
history  to  be  committed  to  writing.  Yet  history  traces  this 
sect  of  people  to  the  year  42  B.  C.  They  founded  the  city 
of  Lyons  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  empire,  a city  which  for 
a time  was  the  most  flourishing  in  Gaul.  Through  their  in- 
fluence civilization  made  rapid  progress  in  the  provinces, 
and  their  schools  became  famous,  and  rivalled  those  of 
Greece  and  Italy.  In  the  history  of  Julius  Caesar  we  find 
that  the  whole  political  power  of  Gaul  was  divided  between 
the  Druids  and  the  Knights  and  Nobles.  The  Druids  were 
not  only  ministers  and  teachers  of  religion,  but  were  judges 
of  the  law,  and  physicians  of  the  people.  They  were 
esteemed  for  their  culture  and  intelligence,  and  their  influ- 
ence over  the  people  was  almost  supreme.  It  is  said  of 
them  that  they  were  the  first  to  teach  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul  and  adoration  of  one  Supreme  Being.  They  also 
believed  in  the  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
They  professed  “to  reform  morals,  to  secure  peace,  and  to 
encourage  goodness/’  yet  they  were  superstitious,  and  made 
use  of  their  magical  knowledge.  A branch,  or  one  of  the 
triads  of  the  Druids,  was  known  as  the  Bards.  They  were 
supposed  to  be  divinely  inspired,  and  their  influence  every- 
where was  very  great.  They  were  exempted  from  military 
obligations,  and  passed  their  lives  in  the  solitude  of  the 


182 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


forests,  engaged  in  theological  and  metaphysical  studies  and 
meditations. 

The  Druids  finally  lost  their  power  and  influence  during 
the  reign  of  Emperor  Claudius,  and  were  finally  driven  from 
their  country,  and  fled  to  the  mountains  of  Scotland  and 
Wales. 

And  thus  it  is  the  modern  Druids  meet  in  Groves,  and 
their  lodge  rooms  are  supposed  to  represent  a Grove,  the 
Chief  Druid  being  seated  under  the  sacred  oak  having  the 
sacred  mistletoe  entwined  in  its  branches. 

The  Druids  of  to-day  have  embodied  in  their  ritual  the 
teachings  and  tenets  of  this  once  powerful  and  honored 
sect.  It  is  a claim,  well  founded  in  history,  that  their  work 
is  more  ancient  than  that  of  any  secret  organization  now  in 
existence,  their  teachings  more  beautiful  and  their  songs 
more  inspiring  than  was  ever  wafted  through  the  Cedars 
of  Lebanon. 

In  1781  the  Druids  assumed  their  present  character  in 
England.  The  Order  was  introduced  in  the  United  States 
in  1830  by  the  organization  of  George  Washington  Grove 
No.  1,  in  New  York  city.  From  this  parent  tree  groves  have 
sprung  up  in  about  every  State  and  Territory  in  this  Union, 
besides  the  principal  countries  in  Europe  and  Aus- 
tralia. 

The  foundation  stones  of  Druidism  are  reasoning  and 
sound  morality.  Social  distinctions  are  ignored  and  anyone 
can  become  a member  who  loves  virtue  and  abhors  vice. 
It  seems  to  unite  men  together  for  mutual  protection  and 
improvement.  It  fosters  a spirit  of  fraternity  and  good  fel- 
lowship, makes  provision  for  the  care  of  its  sick  and  the 
families  of  its  dead  members,  striving  to  place  them  beyond 
the  need  of  charity. 

I trust  that  much  good  will  come  from  this,  your  Thirty - 
seventh  Annual  Assemblage,  that  from  this  day  on  your 
/nembership  will  largely  increase,  that  your  fraternal  ties 


THE  EADIES. 


183 

will  be  strengthened,  that  your  considerate  and  brotherly  care 
for  the  widow  and  children  of  a deceased  brother  will  never 
wane,  that  each  and  every  one  of  you  and  your  brothers  that 
are  to  be  will  always  find  shelter  and  protection  amidst  your 
Groves  of  Sacred  Oaks,  entwined  with  the  mistletoe,  whose 
very  tendril  will  have  inscribed  your  watchwords,  “Unity, 
Peace  and  Concord.” 

“THE  LADIES.” 

Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  at  a Bar  Banquet  at  Burlington,  la.,  Dec.  30,  1886. 

Not  yet  having  been  initiated  in  the  Brotherhood  of  Bene- 
dicts, a greater  latitude  may  be  allowed  me  in  commenting 
on  this  sweet  sentiment.  You  are  well  aware  that  at  our 
secret  meeting  there  took  place  an  animated  discussion  as 
to  whether  or  not  the  ladies  should  be  invited  to  be  pres- 
ent at  this  banquet.  A majority  verdict  decided  that  the 
fair  ones  must  stay  at  home.  As  I was  heartily  in  favor 
of  having  the  winsome  daughters  of  Eve  with  us  at  this 
festal  board,  I do  not  hold  myself  responsible  to  you  mar- 
ried men  for  the  private  reception  tendered  you  by  your 
faithful,  loving  wives  upon  your  arrival  home.  Whether 
that  meeting  was  one  fragrant  with  essence  of  love,  fresh 
plucked  kisses  and  caresses  a la  mode,  or  a veritable  tem- 
pest in  a teapot.  I must  ask  of  each  of  you  to  enter  your 
own  plea,  whether  it  be  one  of  confession  and  avoidance 
or  autre  fois  acquit.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  pun- 
ishment affixed  for  this,  to  me,  unpardonable  offense,  I 
take  it  that  your  better  half  has  tempered  justice  with  mercy 
and  suspended  sentence  for  this  night,  as  all  you  recalcitrants 
appear  to  be  here. 

We  who  are  in  the  unhappy  state  of  single  misery,  by 
the  act  of  you  married  men  are  denied  the  double  com- 
pound, triple  extract,  indescribable,  ecstatic  joy  of  having 
Burlington’s  fair  daughters  by  our  sides,  that  they  might 
take  part  in  this  feast  of  reason  and  flow  of  soul.  Aye! 


184 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


that  they  might,  like  bees,  “hang  upon  the  eloquence  of  thy 
tongue/'  be  dazzled  by  the  scintillations  of  thy  wit,  and 
the  roses  on  their  cheeks  dewed  with  thy  pathetic  utter- 
ances. 

The  verdict  of  the  majority  in  this  case  is  a cruel  one. 
Further  deponent  saith  not.  You  lords  of  creation  demur 
to  the  ladies’  recreations,  complain  about  their  “coffees,” 
“lunches,”  “afternoon  teas,”  “kettle  drums,”  would  deny 
them  the  pleasure  of  a little  gossip,  to  talk  about  Professor 
Foster’s  predictions,  the  fashions,  and  the  dear  boys  down- 
town. You  would  have  them  stay  at  home,  as  “idle  as  a 
painted  ship  upon  a painted  ocean.” 

“The  ladies — though  lost  to  sight,  to  memory  dear.” 
Sublime  sentiment — would  that  I might  pluck  sweet  flow- 
ers of  thought  from  the  garden  of  Meredith  and  with  them 
fittingly  portray  it! 

The  volumes  of  history  are  filled  with  her  deeds  of  dar- 
ing on  the  tented  fields,  and  missions  of  charity  and  love, 
in  the  great  hospitals.  The  galleries  of  art  and  science  are 
adorned  with  her  rare  productions ; the  caskets  of  literature 
gemmed  with  pearls  of  her  genius. 

The  subject  to  which  I am  responding  is  so  sweet  and 
interesting  that  I would  like  to  continue  longer,  but  the 
toastmaster  has  given  the  signal  for  me  to  stop,  and,  there- 
fore, in  brief  conclusion,  may  I say,  though  the  ladies  be 
lost  to  sight,  I am  sure  that,  owing  to  this  banquet,  to  some 
of  you  their  memory  will  be  dear. 


“HANCOCK,  THE  SUPERB.” 

Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  at  a G.  A.  R.  Campfire,  Burlington,  Iowa,  De- 
cember 18,  1887. 

Members  of  the  G.  A.  R.,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

An  invitation  was  extended  to  me  yesterday  by  a com- 
mittee of  the  G.  A.  R.  to  deliver,  at  this  “Campfire,”  a five- 
minute  address,  the  subject  given  me:  “Hancock,  the  Su- 


"HANCOCK,  THE  SUPERB."  185 

perb.”  I bow  at  the  mention  of  that  renowned  name.  I 
deem  it  the  highest  privilege  to  be  permitted  to  express  my 
admiration  for  this  great  military  genius ; one  whose  name 
and  character  are  gilded  with  a lustrous  glory  of  everlasting 
fame. 

Winfield  Scott  Hancock  was  born  near  Norristown, 
Montgomery  County,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  14th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1824.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  appointed  a cadet 
at  West  Point,  graduated  in  June,  1844,  and  was  immediately 
commissioned  brevet  second  lieutenant  in  the  Sixth  Infan- 
try. He  served  two  years  with  his  regiment  in  the  Indian 
Territory.  He  distinguished  himself  in  the  Mexican  war, 
and  the  Florida  Indian  war.  On  the  21st  of  September, 
1861,  he  was  commissioned  Brigadier-General  of  Volunteers. 
His  military  career  in  the  late  war  of  the  rebellion  is  familiar 
to  all.  His  brilliant  campaigns,  personal  daring,  and  great 
victories  sound  more  like  stories  of  knightly  emprise  than  the 
sober  chronicles  of  modern  warfare.  Does  not  the  heart  of 
the  American  youth  thrill  with  justifiable  pride  at  the  recital 
of  Hancock’s  glorious  victories,  triumphant  marches,  won- 
derful achievements  upon  the  battlefields  of  Antietam,  Fred- 
ericksburg, Chancellorsville,  Williamsburg,  Spottsylvania, 
Gettysburg,  Cold  Harbor,  and  many  other  sanguinary  en- 
gagements. He  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major-General 
November  29,  1862  History  does  not  reveal  the  name  of 
a braver,  more  fearless  soldier.  He  was  no  spy-glass  gen- 
eral, safely  lodged  on  the  hill-tops  far  away,  but  in  the  thick- 
est of  the  fight  his  commanding  figure  could  always  be  seen 
among  the  boys  in  blue,  giving  words  of  encouragement 
and  command.  The  record  of  his  personal  daring  at  the 
battle  of  Williamsburg  is  a golden  page  in  the  annals  of 
fame.  Hancock  had  obtained  a position  of  vantage;  it  was 
on  a crest  within  twelve  hundred  yards  of  Fort  Magruder. 
The  Confederates  sought  to  dislodge  the  bold  intruder  with 
an  overwhelming  number  of  men.  They  came  with  a rush, 


1 86  MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 

yelling  “Bull  Run ! Bull  Run ! That  flag  is  ours !”  Hancock 
knew  that  the  supreme  moment  had  arrived.  Leaving  his 
place  behind  the  line,  and  when  the  enemy  were  but  forty 
yards  from  his  brave  boys,  bareheaded,  and  mounted  on  his 
splendid  charger,  he  dashed  along  the  blazing  front,  be- 
tween two  solid  walls  of  musketry  and  cannon,  hailing  a 
perfect  storm  of  bullets  and  balls,  he  shouted,  “Forward! 
Forward  ! For  God’s  sake,  forward !”  The  men,  recognizing 
their  fearless  commander,  with  a great  shout,  charged  upon 
the  rebels,  drove  them  back  and  gained  the  day.  Another 
deed  of  unparalleled  heroism  was  at  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  on  Seminary  Ridge.  History  does  not 
record  the  like  of  this  terrific  fight ; it  was  a ver- 
itable artillery  duel.  The  air  was  hot  with  shot  and 
shell,  and  bullets  fell  as  thick  as  rain  drops.  The  infantry 
hugged  the  ground,  the  gunners  were  being  blown  to 
pieces;  to  escape  death  was  only  a possibility.  At  this 
awful  moment,  amidst  the  hiss  and  rush  of  thousands  of 
flying  missiles,  “Hancock,  the  Superb,”  mounted  at  the  head 
of  his  staff,  with  the  corps  flag  unfurled,  rode  along  the  “ter- 
rible crest’’  from  the  right  of  his  line  to  the  extreme  left, 
furnished  a rare  example  of  sublime  courage,  and,  with  a 
bravery  born  of  the  hour,  again  perched  victory  upon  the 
stars  and  stripes.  No  wonder  the  American  people  called 
him  “Hancock,  the  Superb.” 

His  civic  career  was  no  less  brilliant  than  his  military. 
While  in  command  of  the  fifth  district  in  1867  at  New  Or- 
leans, he  conscientiously  endeavored  to  enforce,  equitably 
and  justly,  the  laws  in  the  States  of  Louisiana  and  Texas.  In 
1880  he  was  nominated  for  President  by  the  Democratic 
party.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  on  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1886,  he  was  stationed  on  Governor’s  Island,  near 
New  York  City. 

Hancock  was  a modest  soldier,  and  dearly  loved  by  all 
his  men.  When  the  wires  brought  the  news  of  the  demise 
of  this  great  commander  many  a boy  that  wore  the  blue 


“the  anchor  and  shield/'  187 

brushed  something  off  his  cheek.  He  needs  no  marble 
shaft  to  rear  its  lofty  head  to  heaven  to  tell  posterity  his 
fame.  No  brass  statue  with  blazing  torch  to  light  the  vista 
of  ages.  His  deeds,  his  noble  deeds,  valor,  sublime  char- 
acter will  live  forever  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 
When  the  end  of  time  is  announced,  and  the  recording  angel 
draws  aside  the  curtains  of  heaven,  on  the  great  scroll  will 
be  written  in  letters  of  living  light,  among  the  grandest  char- 
acters of  all  times,  the  name  of  ‘‘Hancock,  the  Superb.” 

“THE  ANCHOR  AND  SHIELD.” 

Response  by  Wr.  W.  Dodge,  at  a banquet  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen,  at  Burlington,  Iowa,  July  20,  1886. 

The  national  games  of  Greece  were  called  the  Olympic, 
founded,  according  to  mythological  history,  by  Jupiter  him- 
self. They  were  celebrated  in  Olympia,  in  Elis,  and  continued 
for  five  days  in  midsummer.  Vast  numbers  of  spectators 
came  from  far  and  near  to  visit  the  exciting  sports.  Not 
only  did  the  exercises  consist  of  exhibitions  of  bodily 
strength,  such  as  running,  leaping,  wrestling,  throwing  the 
quoit,  and  hurling  the  javelin,  or  boxing,  but  also  contests 
in  music,  poetry,  and  eloquence.  It  would  appear  these 
interesting  exciting  games  and  customs  of  the  ancients  are 
handed  down  to  the  modern,  and  by  him  fully  and  heartily 
enjoyed.  Flattered  by  a kind  invitation  from  your  Order  I 
have  been  an  humble  aider  and  abettor  to  the  days  of  enjoy- 
ment. My  services  were  most  willingly  and  cheerfully  given. 
Understand  me,  however,  I do  not  claim  to  possess  the  de- 
sire or  prowess  to  enter  the  contest  in  music,  poetry  and 
eloquence,  but  submit  the  strife  for  these  garlands  to  others 
far  more  capable  than  myself. 

I am  a stranger  to  your  order,  but,  permitted  by  your 
courtesy,  I speak  as  a man  to  men.  A thought  begotten  of 
your  beautiful  badge  suggests  a theme  for  some  brief  re- 
marks. Emblazoned  on  it  are  sun-rays,  an  anchor,  the 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


1 88 

shield.  Sun-ray  denoting  charit)  * the  anchor,  hope;  the 
shield,  protection.  Fit  subjects  for  the  poet’s  pen  or  the 
artist’s  brush.  Would  that  my  lips  were  touched  by  the 
“attic  bee,”  that  I might  possess  the  power  to  dwell,  with 
words  eloquent,  upon  a subject  radiant  with  beautiful  con- 
ceptions. There  is  charity,  greater  than  the  other  two 
graces,  faith  and  hope.  What  a world  of  gladness  is  in  the 
word.  To  the  homeless  wanderer  it  is  healing  sent  on  wings 
of  sleep,  or  dew  to  the  unconscious  flower.  To  the  hovel  of 
the  poor  it  is  golden  sunshine,  blessed  light  of  happier  days. 
It  may  serve  as  the  cross  to  which  the  unhappy  maiden 
clings  for  salvation,  and  anchors  her  hope  for  pardon  and 
futurity.  To  the  man  of  vice  it  is  the  Bethlehem  star,  whose 
blessed  light  may  lead  him  unto  eternal  joy.  Workmen, 
let  the  “sun-rays  of  charity”  ever  guide  your  pathway,  and 
each  act  done  in  its  holy  name  will  inure  to  your  everlasting 
credit  in  the  great  book.  The  present  day  sees  the  ablest 
and  the  richest  men  kneeling  in  the  temple  of  Mammon, 
with  solemn  faces  and  iron  grasp  holding  urns  filled  with 
gold  and  precious  jewels — rich  offerings  to  their  God.  The 
pathetic  wail  of  Hiawatha  for  his  poor  Minnehaha  in  the 
cabin  of  famine  never  reaches  their  sordid  hearts.  They 
wilfully  shun  that  lovely  mantle  which  “covereth  a multi- 
tude of  sins.” 

Hope!  What  is  life  without  hope?  An  aimless  exist- 
ence; a ship  without  a rudder;  an  island  without  a people;  a 
book  without  a plot;  a diamond  without  lustre;  youth  with- 
out happiness.  We  must  hope  for  the  morrow.  Live  with 
hope.  Hope  to  be  good,  to  be  charitable,  to  be  loved  and 
esteemed,  and  to  be  written  on  the  great  scroll,  by  an  angel’s 
hand,  as  Abou  Ben  Adam,  “one  who  loves  his  fellow  man.” 

There  is  the  “shield,”  emblematic  of  protection.  What 
is  life,  liberty  and  happiness  without  the  protecting  arm  of 
the  law?  We  venerate  the  constitution  and  the  flag  of  our 
country,  shields  to  the  liberties  we  now  enjoy. 

Love  of  virtue  protects  the  innocent;  honesty  stays  the 


189 


"knights  of  the  board.” 

tempter’s  hand;  the  wing  of  the  eagle  covers  the  little  ones. 
Your  fraternal  ties  environ  wife  and  child  with  an  armor 
stronger  than  the  mail  of  the  valiant  knights  of  old.  Work- 
man, ever  keep  burnished  the  armor  of  your  manhood  and 
character;  let  the  "sun-rays”  of  charity  be  felt  wherever 
you  are;  the  anchor  of  hope  dropped  in  the  clear  water  of 
truth;  your  shield  a protection  to  widow  and  orphan. 

Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  let  me  congratu- 
late you  on  the  selection  of  a badge  that  so  fitly  typifies 
your  good  and  noble  work,  and  may  success  and  prosper- 
ity ever  be  the  lot  of  your  association. 


"KNIGHTS  OF  THE  FOOT  BOARD.” 

Response  by  W.  W.  Dodge,  at  a banquet  given  at  the  National  Convention  of 
the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers,  in  the  City  of 
Burlington,  Iowa,  July  19,  1886. 

Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive 
Engineers,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

This  is  the  second  time  in  my  life  I have  been  honored 
with  an  invitation  to  address  brotherhoods  of  railroad  men. 
Last  year  I spoke  to  a splendid  body,  the  Brotherhood  of 
Brakemen.  Now  it  is  permitted  me  to  speak  to  the  bronzed 
and  stalwart  knights  of  the  locomotive.  I can  assure  you 
that  I highly  appreciate  this  privilege.  I am  free  to  admit 
that  I must  be  given  "sand”  when  "pulling  out”  my  remarks 
in  the  presence  of  these  brave,  expert  men.  It  is  therefore 
with  fear  and  trembling  that  I open  "my  throttle;”  and  if  I 
do  not  "burst  a flue,”  I hope  to  make  a reasonable  progress 
and  get  there  on  "card  time.”  I also  appreciate  the  fact  that 
Grand  Chief  Arthur  is  the  "headlight”  of  this  occasion,  and 
has  the  "right  of  way.”  I am  “running  wild,”  and  must 
needs  be  careful,  lest  I "jump  the  track”  and  have  a bad 
"smash  up.”  So  I crave  your  indulgence  and  patience  dur- 
ing my  desultory  remarks,  and  should  you  discover  that  my 
"drivers  are  slipping  on  the  grade,”  call  for  the  "air-brakes.” 
You  have  designated  this  day  for  a union  meeting  of 


190 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


your  Brotherhood,  the  place  selected  the  oldest  and  best  city 
in  Iowa.  Burlington,  like  wine,  improves  with  age.  Our 
city  shows  every  evidence  of  modern  advancement;  nine 
railroads,  a magnificent  system  of  water  works,  this  Grand 
Opera  House,  new  stores,  residences,  and  other  attractions 
too  numerous  to  mention.  Our  popular  mayor  has  hung  the 
latchstring  on  the  outer  walls;  our  worthy  and  hospitable 
men  extend  to  you  a brotherly  hand  of  welcome;  while  our 
beautiful  young  ladies,  God  bless  them,  will  meet  you  with 
bright  faces  wreathed  in  winning  smiles,  and  make  you  for 
the  moment  wish  that  you  were  not  married,  that  you  might 
take  one  home  with  you.  As  for  you  single  men,  all  I have 
to  say  is  that  we  have  numerous  ministers  and  Justices  of 
the  Peace. 

There  are  others  here  to-day  better  acquainted  with  the 
subject  than  I,  who  may  relate  the  wonderful  growth  of  rail- 
roads in  this  and  other  regions.  They  may  relate  the  thrill- 
ing experience  of  Stephenson’s  engine,  “The  Rocket,” 
which  fifty  years  ago,  with  a load  of  thirteen  tons,  including 
many  passengers,  traveled  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  an 
hour,  and  the  engine  obR^aithwait  & Erickson,  of  London, 
moved  at  the  astonishing  speed  of  twenty-eight  miles  an 
hour.  “It  seemed,  indeed,”  said  a spectator,  “to  fly ; present- 
ing one  of  the  most  sublime  spectacles  of  human  ingenuity 
and  human  daring  the  world  ever  beheld.  It  actually  made 
men  giddy  to  look  at  it,  and  filled  thousands  with  lively 
fear  for  the  safety  of  the  individuals  who  were  on  it,  and 
who  seemed  not  to  run  along  the  earth,  but  to  fly,  as  it  were, 
on  the  wings  of  the  wind.” 

It  sounds  like  one  of  Gulliver’s  phantasms  when  we 
are  told  that  in  1830  in  the  United  States  there  were  only 
twenty-three  miles  of  track  in  operation.  Now  we  have  an 
extent  of  125,000  miles,  costing,  with  equipments,  about 
seven  billion  dollars,  and  affording  employment  to  about 
500,000  persons.  The  railroads  of  the  world  give  a grand 


“knights  of  the  board.”  191 

aggregate  of  264,826  miles,  of  which  we  have  about  one- 
half  in  this  country. 

It  was  recently  said  by  a United  States  Senator  that 
“among  the  servants  of  our  civilization  none  have  ap- 
proached the  efficiency  of  the  railway.  It  has  annihilated 
distances ; it  has  not  only  made  the  wilderness  blossom  like 
the  rose,  but  it  has  enabled  the  rose  to  be  readily  exchanged 
for  the  products  of  the  cities.  It  has  conduced  to  the  widest 
diffusion  of  labor,  and  rendered  nations  measurably  homo- 
geneous.” 

I learn  that  twenty-three  years  ago  your  Brotherhood 
was  founded  at  Detroit,  Michigan.  Your  first  division  was 
known  as  “The  Brethren  of  the  Footboard,”  and  consisted 
of  twelve  members.  You  have  now  some  20,000  members 
in  your  Brotherhood,  contained  in  320  divisions.  Your 
association  is  among  the  oldest  labor  organizations,  and 
stands  to-day  as  firm  as  any.  The  corner-stones  of  your 
grand  Order  are  “Sobriety,  Truth,  Justice,  and  Morality.” 
Your  Brotherhood  is  eternal,  standing  on  such  a sublime 
and  magnificent  foundation.  These  principles  are  as  lasting 
as  the  rock-ribbed  hills.  Engrave  them  on  your  hearts.  Be 
true  to  them  and  you  will  stand  before  your  fellow  men  as 
one  of  the  “noblest  works  of  God.” 

The  life  of  a locomotive  engineer  is  filled  with  sunshine 
and  shadow.  There  is  pleasure,  there  is  sorrow  on  each 
side  of  the  line.  The  merciless  dagger  of  grief  pierces  the 
heart,  while  again  the  golden  rays  of  joy  make  glad.  Who 
has  not  observed  the  pride  and  affection  lavished  by  a 
“Knight  of  the  Footboard”  on  his  engine?  It  is  only 
equalled  by  the  admiration  and  love  of  Pygmalion  for  his 
statue  of  ivory.  Pygmalion  was  a sculptor,  and  with  his 
skilled  hand  made  a statue  of  ivory  more  beautiful  than 
any  living  woman;  it  looked  like  the  workmanship  oF  nature. 
He  fell  in  love  with  his  own  creation,  and  caressed  it,  and 
like  unto  a girl,  he  made  it  presents  of  flowers,  birds,  bright 
shells  and  beads  of  amber.  At  the  festival  of  Venus,  before 


192 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


the  altar  where  sacrifices  were  offered,  Pygmalion  timidly 
said,  “Ye  gods,  who  can  do  all  things,  give  me,  I pray  you, 
for  my  wife” — he  dared  not  say,  “my  ivory  virgin,” — but  said 
instead,  “one  like  my  ivory  virgin.”  Venus  heard  his  prayer, 
and  causing  the  flame  on  the  altar  to  shoot  up  thrice  into 
a fiery  point,  gave  life  to  the  subject  of  his  creation. 

So  with  the  man  of  the  lever  on  the  nation’s  birthday 
festival.  I have  seen  him  bedeck  his  engine  with  flowers, 
pictures,  gay  colored  ribbons  and  beautiful  wreaths,  until, 
like  a bride,  ready  for  the  altar,  it  seemed  to  me  he  almost 
felt  inspired  to  utter  the  prayer  of  Pygmalion. 

In  this  rambling  talk  I could  not  hope  to  fitly  portray 
the  noble  character  of  the  locomotive  engineer.  His  daunt- 
less courage,  fidelity  to  duty,  willingness  to  sacrifice  even 
life  to  save  those  in  his  charge,  his  seeming  disregard  of  all 
danger,  and  heroic  deeds,  are  themes  for  the  poet  and  his- 
torian, rather  than  orator.  His  name  is  engraven  on  tablets 
of  brass  in  the  temples  of  everlasting  fame.  His  virtues, 
valor,  fidelity,  sacrifice,  shall  shine  as  brilliantly  and  long 
as  the  lamps  in  heaven.  Therefore,  let  us  bear  in  mind  that 

“The  sweetest  lives  are  those  to  duty  wed, 

Whose  deeds,  both  great  and  small, 

Are  close-knit  strands  of  one  unbroken  thread, 
Where  love  ennobles  all; 

The  world  may  sound  no  trumpet,  ring  no  bells, 

The  book  of  life  the  shining  secret  tells.” 


193 


"the  uncertainty  of  the  law/' 


“THE  UNCERTAINTY  OF  THE  LAW.” 

“The  law  is  a sort  of  hocus  pocus  science  that  smiles  in 
your  face  while  it  picks  your  pocket,  and  the  glorious  un- 
certainty of  it  is  of  mair  use  to  the  profession  than  the  jus- 
tice of  it.” — Macklin. 

Response  by  Hon.  John  B.  Green,  of  New  York  City,  at  the  second  annual 
banquet  of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of  America,  at  Omaha, 

July  21,  1896. 

Mr.  President: — It  is  a cardinal  canon  of  post  prandial 
oratory  that  the  speaker  should  say  nothing  about  the  senti- 
ment assigned  him  as  a topic.  And  the  etiquette  of  polite 
society  forbids  one  on  social  occasions  to  talk  shop. 

To  us  who  spend  our  days 

“Mastering  the  lawless  science  of  our  law, 

That  codeless  myriad  of  precedent, 

That  wilderness  of  single  instances, 

Thro’  which  a few,  by  wit  or  fortune  led, 

May  beat  a pathway  out  to  wealth  and  fame.” 

— Tennyson. 

such  canons  seem  worthy  of  superstitious  observance. 

But  this  sentiment  is  as  tempting  as  New  England 
Johnny  cake,  or  as  old-fashioned  molasses  candy,  and  I am 
reluctant  to  make  my  remarks  too  much  like  Josh  Billings’ 
celebrated  lecture  on  milk,  which,  though  containing  not 
even  an  allusion  to  lacteal  fluid,  was  nevertheless  literally 
on  milk,  because  the  lecturer  continually  sipped  milk  from 
a glass  brought  for  the  purpose. 

The  author  of  this  sentiment  was  an  Irish  actor  named 
McLaughlin,  who  preferred  to  be  called  Macklin,  and  who 
lived  to  the  age  of  107  years,  but  with  so  little  title  to  fame 
that  he  is  not  accorded  the  honor  of  a biographical  notice 
in  the  standard  authority  of  the  United  Kingdom.  But  as 


194 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


authors  are  like  death  in  loving  a shining  mark,  he  has  much 
company  in  railing  at  the  profession. 

. Since  the  days  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  indicating  the 
origin  of  judges  going  on  circuit : “And  he  went  from  yeai 
to  year  in  circuit  to  Bethel,  and  Gilgal  and  Mizpah,  and 
judged  Israel  in  all  those  places” — i Samuel,  vii.,  16,  lawyers 
have  been  a favorite  target  for  the  biting  shafts  of  literary 
wit. 

The  attorney  is  a gentleman  by  Act  of  Parliament,  and 
he  has  been  defined,  with  more  wit  than  verity,  as  a learned 
man  who  rescues  your  estate  from  your  enemy  and  keeps 
it  for  himself. 

It  was  Ben  Jonson  who  spoke  of  lawyers: 

“That  could  speak 

To  every  cause  and  things  mere  contraries, 

Till  they  were  hoarse  again.” 

And  Butler  wrote: 

“Is  not  the  winding  up  of  witnesses, 

And  nicking,  more  than  half  the  business? 

For  witnesses,  like  watches,  go 
Just  as  they’re  set,  too  fast  or  slow.” 

And  Gay  said: 

“I  know  you  lawyers  can,  with  ease, 

Twist  words  and  meanings  as  you  please, 

That  language  by  your  skill  made  pliant, 

Will  bend  to  favor  every  client; 

That  ’tis  the  fee  directs  the  sense, 

To  make  out  either  side’s  pretense.” 

Goldsmith,  too,  has  his  fling:  “Laws  grind  the  poor  and 
the  rich  men  rule  the  law,”  was  the  curt  observation  in  the 
“Traveller.” 

But  it  is  not  difficult  to  strike  back. 

It  is  Charles  Reade  who,  in  “Foul  Play,”  permits  his 
hero  to  be  convicted  of  forgery  and  sentenced  to  penal  servi- 


“the  uncertainty  of  the  eaw.”  195 

tude,  without  an  effort  to  postpone  the  trial,  notwithstanding 
the  absence  of  a witness  lying  delirious  with  fever,  by  whom 
his  innocence  could  be  established,  and  who  had  been  actu- 
ally subpoenaed.  While  the  celebrated  trial  of  Shylock  vs. 
Antonio,  before  the  Venetian  Common  Pleas  (see  3 Shake- 
speare’s reports,  247),  probably  contains  more  reversible 
errors  than  any  other  reported  case.  And  the  result  was 
the  grossest  injustice.  In  that  trial  the  court  held  the  con- 
dition of  the  bond  valid,  in  the  face  of  declaring  it  a design 
against  life,  which  made  it  void  as  against  public  policy. 
But  having  held  the  condition  enforcible,  the  court  declared 
that  in  the  case  at  bar  the  law  did  require  a vain  thing, 
a single  exactly  sufficient  cut  without  shedding  blood,  and 
granted  the  main  relief  while  denying  its  necessary  and 
inevitable  incidents.  The  plaintiff,  finding  the  court  would 
enforce  the  penal  part  of  the  bond  only  under  conditions 
impossible  of  performance,  claimed  his  legal  right  to  judg- 
ment for  the  return  of  his  loan  with  interest,  when  he  is  met 
with  the  astounding  ruling  that  by  refusing  a previous 
tender,  not  only  was  any  collateral  he  had  released  and  the 
running  of  interest  stopped,  but  any  recovery  of  the  prin- 
cipal was  forever  barred.  And  he  is  driven  out,  wronged  of 
his  just  dues,  and  without  indictment  or  trial  heavily  fined 
for  an  attempt  at  murder  evidenced  alone  by  a document 
the  court  had  already  held  a lawful  instrument. 

We  have  to  own  that  there  are  times,  however,  when 
just  complaint  is  made  of  the  glorious  uncertainty  of  the 
law.  This  is  due  to  two  causes:  (1)  The  stupidity  of  the 

judges;  and  (2)  the  omniscient  wisdom  of  jurymen.  When 
the  young  lawyer  was  interrupted  in  his  citation  of  authori- 
ties to  sustain  elementary  principles,  by  the  remark  from 
the  bench  that  the  court  might  be  presumed  to  know  some 
law,  he  very  properly  retorted  that  he  had  rested  on  that 
presumption  in  the  court  below  and  lost  his  case,  and  he 
did  not  mean  to  be  caught  that  way  again. 

Many  of  us,  I am  sure,  have  at  times  felt  like  that  learned 


196 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


counselor,  who,  on  being  threatened  with  a commitment 
for  contempt  of  court,  blandly  said  that  he  had  expressed  no 
contempt  for  the  court,  but  had  on  the  contrary  carefully 
endeavored  to  conceal  his  feelings. 

And  in  all  the  lawyer’s  litany  there  is  no  more  fervent 
prayer  than  “From  jurymen  who  know  it  all,  Libera  nos, 
O!  Domine.” 

When  I hear  complaints  of  the  law’s  delay,  I think  with 
reverence  of  the  observation  of  Sir  Thomas  Clarke,  Master 
of  the  Rolls:  “There  are  two  things  against  which  a judge 
ought  to  guard — precipitancy  and  procrastination.”  Sir 
Nicholas  Bacon  was  made  to  say,  which  I hope  never  again 
to  hear,  that  a speedy  injustice  is  as  good  as  justice  which  is 
slow. 

There  are  different  kinds  of  uncertainties,  and  some 
puzzling  cases  are  held  to  be  glorious  to  others  than  pro- 
fessors. 

“What  was  the  most  confusing  case  you  ever  had?” 
asked  a doctor  of  a lawyer.  “Case  o’  champagne,”  returned 
the  lawyer.  “I  hadn’t  got  half  through  it  before  I was  all 
muddled  up.” 

This  is  the  kind  of  litigation  we  have  been  participating 
in  at  Omaha. 

When  this  banquet  shall  be  deserted,  and  the  remnants 
of  this  festal  board  have  grown  cold ; when  the  waiters  shall 
linger  mournfully  over  these  empty  bottles  and  sadly  collect 
the  scattered  corks,  may  your  slumbers  be  as  peaceful  and 
your  dreams  as  iridescent  as  the  memories  your  guests  will 
carry  home.  We  return  to  tell  our  friends  of  tawny  days 
when  life  among  you  was  like  swimming  with  silver  fins 
and  ivory  gills  in  purple  seas,  of  nights  filled  with  music, 
and  of  mounting  with  gilt-edged  pinions  to  meet  the  star- 
led  dawn.  And  as  we  tell  the  story  of  our  visit  to  those  who 
missed  it,  the  gurgling  of  Dead  Sea  cocktails  will  be  as  the 
sound  of  many  waters.  For,  in  the  future,  when  we  look 
into  the  kaleidoscope  of  memory,  we  will  note  no  brighter 


“the  ladies/'  197 

bits  of  color  than  those  which  the  shadows  of  our  visit  cast 
upon  the  glass.  Nor  shall  a fairer  spectre  thread  the  crystal 
chambers  of  the  brain  than  she  whose  jeweled  forehead 
bears  the  name  of  Omaha. 


“THE  LADIES/’ 

“O,  woman;  lovely  woman!  nature  made  thee 

To  tempt  man;  and  we  had  been  but  brutes  without  you. 

Angels  are  painted  fair  to  look  like  you ; 

There  is  in  you  all  that  we  believe  of  heaven, 

Amazing  brightness,  purity  and  truth, 

Eternal  joy  and  everlasting  love.” 

— Thomas  Otway  (Venice  Preserved,  Act  1,  Sec.  7). 

Response  to  above  sentiment,  at  Omaha  Convention  of  the  Commercial  Law 

League  of  America,  by  Martin  Saxe,  of  New  York  City,  July  21st,  1896. 

Toastmaster,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — It  is  very  unfor- 
tunate for  you  that  I notice  by  the  clock  that  the  hour  is 
close  at  two,  because  the  gentleman  who  follows  me  has 
asked  me  to  help  him  out,  and  positively  declines  to  speak 
before  three  o’clock.  I,  therefore,  must  ask  your  indulgence 
for  the  arduous  work  before  me. 

It  is  also  unfortunate  that  I am  not  an  after-dinner 
speaker.  In  order  to  try  and  fill  the  requirements  of  this 
toast,  I wanted  to  read  “Bird  on  Toast,”  but  Judge  Green, 
of  New  York,  who  has  just  made  such  an  elaborate  speech, 
got  hold  of  the  book  this  afternoon  and  would  not  give  me 
a chance  to  use  it.  The  chairman  was  quite  clever  in  not 
caring  to  read  the  sentiment  of  this  toast,  and  I am  going 
to  follow  his  example,  as  it  is  much  too  difficult  to  recite. 
Mr.  Gray,  this  handsome  gentleman  from  Chicago,  on  my 
left,  tells  me  that  he  was  responsible  for  the  quotation. 

You  may  all  join  me  in  singing  “Gray’s  Elegy”  to- 
morrow. 

But  first  of  all  I want  to  say  a word  about  the  hospitality 
of  the  people  of  Omaha.  Now,  in  my  experience,  I have 


198 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


enjoyed  a great  many  visits  to  places  far  from  home,  but 
really  none  appealed  so  much  to  my  sense  of  enjoyment  as 
this  one. 

The  first  night  I reached  the  town  I was  rushed  off  to  the 
Coliseum,  and  after  having  my  handsome  carcass  riddled 
with  holes  till  you  could  see  daylight  through  it,  I was 
turned  into  a “Knight  of  Ak-sar-ben.”  Now,  that  was 
hospitality  for  you,  and  I was  a fit  subject  for  the  hospital. 

But  I am  here  to  speak  about  the  ladies.  I want  to 
speak  particularly  about  the  ladies  of  Omaha.  You  all 
know  that  New  York  is  noted  for  its  handsome  men;  you 
can  judge  of  the  truth  of  that  fact  by  the  members  of  the 
New  York  delegation  here  to-night.  Omaha  is  noted  for 
its  beautiful  women.  But  what  I admire  more  than  the 
beauty  of  the  women  of  Omaha  is  their  patriotism.  Really, 
in  these  times,  it  does  one  an  immense  amount  of  good  to 
see  the  evidence  of  true  patriotism  in  American  women. 
The  other  night,  when  I was  hugely  enjoying  myself  at  the 
dance  at  the  Creighton  Theater,  surrounded  by  a bevy  of 
your  most  charming  belles,  I was  “right  in  it,”  so  to  speak, 
until  Uncle  Sam’s  officers  came  from  the  fort,  and  then  I 
was  deserted.  Was  not  that  patriotism  for  you?  Really, 
the  women  of  Omaha  are  truly  patriotic;  they  are  living 
pictures  of  the  American  flag! 

Their  arms  white  as  the  bars, 

Their  cheeks  rosy  as  the  stripes, 

Their  eyes  brighter  than  the  stars, 

Women  of  God’s  fairest  types. 

But  now  I ought  to  say  something  about  ladies  in  gen- 
eral, and  I am  going  to  try  to  show  you  what  a wonderful 
effect  women  have  had  on  the  developments  of  the  law. 
Probably  this  is  not  apparent  at  first  blush,  but  I feel  sure 
you  will  be  convinced  of  it  after  what  I am  going  to  tell  you. 
I know  of  one  instance  where  a lady  desired  to  have  drawn 
a power  of  attorney.  When  the  instrument  was  finished 


199 


“the  ladies.” 

and  handed  to  her  to  read,  she  noticed  that  it  began,  “Know 
all  men  by  these  presents.”  She  at  once  raised  an  objection 
to  this  phrase,  and  desired  the  word  “women”  to  be  added. 
Her  suave  attorney  replied  politely,  “Why,  don’t  you  know 
that  man  embraces  women?” 

I also  recollect  where  a young  widow  came  into  the  office 
of  a brother  attorney.  She  was  crying  profusely. 

“My  dear  madam,”  said  the  lawyer,  “there  is  no  need  of 
your  carrying  on  so.  You  will  get  your  third  out  of  the  es- 
tate.” 

“You  are  very  bold,  sir,”  she  replied.  “I  have  only  just 
buried  my  second.” 

But,  to  come  back  to  the  ladies  of  Omaha,  I want  to  tell 
you  that  one  thing  I noticed  particularly  was  the  great  hap- 
piness, which  is  so  very  apparent,  of  the  young  married 
couples.  It  is  a delightful  thing  to  see,  and  in  contrast  to  it 
I am  reminded  of  a very  sad  story,  which  really  should  not 
be  told  on  such  a bright  occasion  as  this,  but  I want  to  use 
it  as  a sort  of  a moral,  and  would  ask  you,  therefore,  to 
refrain  from  indulging  in  tears  as  far  as  possible. 

The  story  is  one  of  two  Germans  who  were  steadfast 
friends  and  both  in  love  with  the  same  young  lady. 
Their  names  were  respectively  August  and  Herman. 
The  object  of  their  individual  affection  possessed  the 
beautiful  name  of  Matilda.  In  the  course  of  time 
Herman  succeeded  in  winning  the  affections  of  the 
young  lady,  and  married  her.  Notwithstanding  his 
success,  the  friendship,  which  had  at  no  time 
time  been  injured  by  the  rivalry,  remained  as  before. 

A year  or  so  after  the  marriage,  Herman  was  suddenly 
called  to  Germany.  Before  going  he  went  to  August  and 
said:  “Mine  frient,  I must  go  avay.  You  are  mine  vife’s 
best  frient — I leafe  her  in  your  care;  you  vill  look  out  for 
her;”  then  sailed  away. 

On  his  return  August  met  him  at  the  gang-plank  of  the 
vessel.  His  face  was  pale,  and  his  eyes  red  and  swollen.  As 


200 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


he  clasped  Herman’s  hand  he  could  hardly  speak.  He  said, 
“Herman,  prepare  yourself  for  de  vorst.” 

“Vat  is  der  matter?”  Herman  asked  anxiously. 

Someting  terrible  ! Matilda  is  tead  !” 

Herman  stopped  a moment.  “Don’d  make  me  laf;  mine 
lips  are  chapped.” 

But  I must  not  go  on  in  this  way  any  longer.  I am 
here  to  toast  the  ladies.  Now  then — 

Here’s  to  the  ladies  of  Omaha, 

Whose  beauty’s  noted  far  and  wide; 

The  best  of  wives,  the  best  of  mothers, 

God  bless  them  all!  God  bless  the  others. 

(The  toastmaster  said  he  would  not  in  this  instance  read 
the  sentiment  under  the  toast,  as  there  was  but  one  audience 
before  which  he  could  do  it  justice,  and  that  that  audience 
was  an  audience  of  one — his  wife.) 


“THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.” 

Response  by  John  L.  Webster,  delivered  at  the  Omaha  banquet  of  the  Com- 
mercial Law  League  of  America,  July  aist,  1896. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — When  Wash- 
ington had  delivered  his  farewell  address  as  the  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  he  was  given  a banquet  at  Phila- 
delphia, at  which  was  exhibited  in  his  honor  an  allegorical 
painting.  The  central  figure  in  that  painting  was  a woman 
representing  America,  seated  on  an  elevation  composed  of 
sixteen  marble  steps,  representing  the  several  states  of  the 
new  nationality.  On  her  left  was  a shield,  the  sign  of  protec- 
tion, and  an  eagle,  the  bird  of  freedom.  At  her  feet  lay  the 
cornucopia,  overflowing  with  the  blessings  to  mankind  se« 
cured  by  the  American  revolution.  In  her  right  hand  she 
held  the  Indian  calumet  of  peace,  supporting  the  cap  of 
liberty.  In  the  perspective  appeared  the  temple  of  fame,  in 
which  the  memory  of  Washington  should  be  forever  shelt- 
ered. On  her  left  hand  was  an  altar  dedicated  to  public 


201 


"THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA." 

gratitude,  indicative  of  that  gratitude  which  now  swells  in 
the  hearts  of  more  than  sixty-five  millions  of  people  In  her 
left  hand  she  held  a scroll  inscribed  “Valedictory” — that 
document  so  full  of  wisdom  and  statesmanlike  advice  that 
it  has  ever  since  served  as  an  anchor  of  public  safety  At  the 
foot  of  the  altar  lay  a plumed  helmet  and  sword,  emblems 
of  the  many  victories  of  the  revolutionary  fathers,  but 
now  laid  aside  as  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  ruled  above  them 
in  peace. 

The  figure  of  Washington  appeared  retiring  dovyn  the 
marble  steps,  pointing  with  his  right  hand  to  the  emblems 
of  power  he  had  resigned,  and  over  his  head  Genius  was 
placing  a wreath  of  laurel. 

That  allegorical  painting  was  a beautiful  picture  of  the 
newly  risen  republic,  which  had  its  birth  amidst  the  storms 
of  seven  years  of  war,  and  had  but  lately  started  on  its  more 
brilliant  career  of  peace. 

That  is  the  nation  which  has  gone  on  developing  for 
more  than  one  hundred  years,  extending  her  territory,  in- 
creasing and  expanding  her  industries  and  spreading  her 
commerce,  until  she  has  become  the  mistress  of  the  world, 
and  the  home  and  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed  people  of  all 
other  nations  who  have  sought  her  shelter  and  her  pro- 
tection. 

It  is  a nation  which  has  an  object  to  serve  and  a destiny 
to  meet.  I might  say  of  her  as  Seward  once  said:  “I  would 
have  you  consider  what  a nation  it  is  of  which  you  are 
governors — a nation  quick  and  vigorous  of  thought,  free 
and  bold  in  speech,  prompt  and  resolute  in  action,  and  just 
and  generous  in  purpose — a nation  existing  for  something, 
and  designed  for  something.  * * * Why  else  was  this 

nation  chosen,  that  out  of  her  as  out  of  Sinai  should  be 
proclaimed  and  sounded  forth  the  tidings  and  trumpet  of 
political  reformation  to  all  nations.” 

We  believe  with  Washington  that  the  mission  of  our 


202 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


country  is  one  of  peace  and  not  of  bloodshed.  It  was  during 
a reign  of  peace  that  our  nation  acquired  the  territory  in- 
cluded in  the  Louisiana  purchase,  the  territory  included  in 
the  Florida  purchase,  thus  widening  and  extending  our  ter- 
ritories until  the  nation  clasped  in  its  embrace  all  the  land 
between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific. 

It  was  during  a reign  of  peace  that  our  nation  established 
the  principles  of  the  Monroe  doctrine;  that  the  United 
States  would  not  brook  with  indifference  the  interference 
of  any  European  power  with  the  domestic  concerns  of  any 
nation  upon  the  American  continent;  neither  would  we  sub- 
mit to  any  further  enlargement  of  European  possessions 
upon  the  American  continent. 

With  the  expansion  of  territory  came  power,  and  with 
power  the  fulfillment  of  the  mission  of  this  country,  that  the 
western  continent  should  be  the  home  of  republics  and  the 
land  of  freedom. 

To  the  accomplishment  of  universal  freedom  it  was 
necessary  for  the  most  enlarged  freedom  within  our  own 
territory.  Slavery  must  give  way  to  liberty.  That  liberty 
did  not  have  its  birth  in  the  embraces  of  peace,  but  out  of 
the  hot  convulsions  of  war. 

War  may  be  terrible  and  destructive;  it  annihilates  and 
destroys;  it  eats  flesh  and  it  drinks  blood;  but  out  of  such 
havoc  and  disaster  may  come  blessings. 

Out  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  there  was  created  the 
greatest  and  most  lasting  benefits.  The  people  are  happier 
and  the  nation  is  stronger.  The  quietude  and  slow  progress 
of  the  old  times  have  given  way  to  the  rapid  progression  and 
solidifying  strength  of  the  new.  Before  we  were  a simple 
union  of  States.  Now  we  are  a banded  union,  whose 
supremacy  is  recognized  by  the  old  world. 

War  is  not  in  all  things  evil,  although  almost  universally 
condemned  by  men  of  peace,  and  theorists.  War  is  fre- 
quently as  beneficial  as  it  is  sublime.  It  was  war  which 
created  the  freedom  of  the  States  after  the  declaration  of  ’76; 


203 


"TH£  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.” 

it  was  war  which  perfected  the  union  of  the  States  after  '6i. 

I might  almost  apply  to  the  war  of  the  rebellion  the 
words  which  Victor  Hugo  wrote  of  the  wars  of  the  French 
revolution: 

‘“The  French  revolution  is  the  greatest  step  in  advance 
taken  by  mankind  since  the  advent  of  Christ;  incomplete 
it  may  be,  but  it  is  sublime.  It  loosened  all  the  sacred 
bonds  of  society;  it  softened  all  hearts,  it  calmed,  it  ap- 
peased, enlightened;  it  made  the  waves  of  civilization  to 
flow  over  the  earth;  it  was  good.  The  French  revolution  is 
the  consecration  of  humanity.” 

Prior  to  i860  it  did  seem  that  America  had  reached  the 
acme  of  perfection,  and  was  rapidly  traveling  along  the 
highway  to  the  fulfillment  of  her  destiny.  But  it  was  not 
so.  Another  event  greater  than  all  those  that  had  gone  be- 
fore was  left  for  the  administration  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
apostle  of  liberty. 

Lincoln  surveyed  the  whole  history  of  the  past,  from 
Washington  to  Jefferson — from  Jefferson  to  Monroe — from 
Monroe  to  Buchanan.  He  looked  into  the  future  and  saw 
the  realization  of  his  prediction,  “A  house  divided  against 
itself  cannot  stand.”  That  house  must  be  reunited,  no  mat- 
ter how  severe  the  struggle,  how  great  the  cost,  how  terrible 
the  hardship,  how  extensive  the  bloodshed.  He  foresaw  the 
trials  and  tribulations  which  would  beset  his  path,  and  he 
gave  utterance  to  his  feelings  when  he  was  about  to  take 
his  departure  from  his  fellow-citizens  in  Springfield,  to  take 
upon  himself  the  labors  of  President  of  the  United  States, 
when  he  said,  “I  go  to  perform  a task  more  difficult  than 
that  which  devolved  upon  Washington.” 

The  task  was  to  save  the  union  of  States  from  dissolu- 
tion and  shipwreck,  amidst  the  storms  of  sectional  passion 
then  blowing  a furious  gale,  that  had  its  beginning  over  the 
slavery  question,  and  which  was  to  divide  the  national 
household  unless  it  should  become  permanently  free.  It 
was  but  a few  years  before  that  Daniel  Webster  had  said: 


204 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


‘‘Freedom,  human  liberty  and  human  rights  are  gaining  the 
ascendant  on  earth.”  They  were  gaining  the  ascendant  on 
earth,  but  they  had  not  reached  it.  While  we  were  pro- 
claiming forth  the  tidings  and  trumpets  of  political  reforma- 
tion to  other  nations  we  had  not  secured  that  liberty  to  all 
our  own  people.  That  liberty  which  had  been  given  them 
by  God,  but  which  had  been  wrested  from  them  by  man. 
For  a time  it  seemed  that  this  republic  was  to  be  bound  like 
another  Prometheus  to  the  adamantine  rock,  while  slavery 
like  another  vulture  was  preying  in  its  vitals. 

The  disguised  blessing  of  war  furnished  the  opportunity 
for  the  issuing  of  the  greatest  of  all  documents  in  the  cause 
of  freedom,  human  liberty  and  human  rights  spoken  of  by 
Webster — the  emancipation  proclamation — a document  as 
sacred  to  the  American  people  as  the  American  constitution, 
and  which  put  an  end  to  the  buying  and  selling  of  the  image 
of  God  like  a beast  in  the  market.  It  came  as  the  result  of 
war,  and  it  could  not  have  come  without  it.  Thus  by  -var 
was  liberty  born.  Thus  by  war  was  the  household  reunited. 
Thus  by  war  was  the  nation  saved.  Thus  by  war  was  it 
made  greater  and  nobler  than  ever  before,  purified  as  by 
fire,  sanctified  by  patriot  blood,  and  glorified  as  of  God. 

For  this  act  historians  have  written  of  him  as  the  bene- 
factor of  mankind.  Orators  have  praised  him  in  the  warmest 
and  most  eloquent  words  of  panegyric.  Sculptors  have 
chiseled  his  form  in  marble;  while  slaves  with  broken 
shackles  were  kneeling  at  his  feet.  Artists  have  painted  him 
on  canvas  with  that  emancipation  scroll  in  his  hand.  But 
Lincoln  as  I view  him  was  greater  than  all  that.  His  aim 
was  broader  and  more  comprehensive.  He  loved  the  union 
of  the  states.  He  saw  the  destiny  of  the  nation  expanding 
through  the  mists  of  the  future,  destined  to  become  an  ex- 
ample of  what  Republican  form  of  government  might  do 
and  ought  to  do  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  mankind,  of 
all  races  and  all  creeds,  and  that  the  government  he  was  to 
save  was  to  dominate  the  western  hemisphere. 


"the  lawyer  of  the  south."  205 

The  liberating  of  the  slaves,  grand  though  it  be  in 
thought  as  well  as  in  action,  was  but  the  means  to  an  end. 
Lincoln’s  purpose  was  to  save  the  union  which  Washington 
had  created,  and  Jefferson  enlarged,  and  Monroe  protected. 
To  save  the  Union  under  the  Constitution,  with  slavery  if  he 
could,  but  without  it  if  he  must.  His  love  for  the  Union 
was  greater  than  all  other  loves,  and  stood  out  superior  to 
all  other  considerations.  How  beautifully  he  pictured  that 
thought  in  the  closing  sentence  of  his  inaugural  address: 

“The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battlefield  and  every  patriot  grave,  to  every  living  heart  and 
hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  they  surely  will 
be  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature.” 

The  nobleness  of  his  nature  and  the  purity  of  his  patriotic 
purposes  will  never  be  expressed  in  words  more  chaste  and 
touching  than  these,  in  which  he  pictured  the  love  of  his 
country. 

Oh,  that  we  had  a sculptor  with  the  genius  of  Canova 
who  could  picture  him  in  his  true  greatness.  I know  not 
what  that  monument  would  be — but  in  some  form  it  would 
represent  a patriotic  saint,  likened  somewhat  to  the 
Bartholdi  statue  of  liberty  enlightening  the  world. 

Oh,  for  the  genius  of  that  Raphael  who  painted  the 
transfiguration;  of  that  Titian  who  painted  the  assumption  of 
the  Virgin  Mary — to  put  on  canvas  that  Lincoln  we  knew 
and  the  world  knows.  I know  not  what  such  a painting 
would  be,  but  in  some  form  it  would  bd  his  apotheosis  with 
the  millions  who  love  our  country  watching  his  enrollment 
among  the  saints. 

Lincoln  left  us  that  nation  of  which  Seward  spoke,  "Ex- 
isting for  something,  and  destined  for  something;  having 
for  her  destinv  the  working  out  of  political  reformation  to 
all  nations.”  She  is  the  mistress  of  her  own  future.  By  the 
teachings  of  her  example  she  is  setting  in  motion  the  crea- 
tion of  republican  forms  of  government  all  over  the  western 


206 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


hemisphere.  By  her  prowess  and  her  greatness  she  may 
change  the  systems  of  Europe.  Now  firmly  established  on 
the  broad  foundations  of  liberty,  she  has  risen  to  a pro- 
digious power.  She  has  conquered  more  by  peace  for  the 
cause  of  humanity  in  one  hundred  years  than  did  Rome  by 
arms  in  many  centuries.  She  has  become  the  wonder  of  the 
world,  and  yet  her  duty  has  but  begun.  Her  march  must 
still  be  forward,  by  the  ways  of  peace  if  possible,  but  if  wars 
must  needs  cross  the  pathway  which  she  must  tread  to  the 
accomplishment  of  that  purpose  for  which  she  was  chosen  as 
out  of  Sinai,  let  the  war  come,  and  her  patriotic  sons  will 
meet  it  manfully. 

With  her  freedom  has  come  justice,  and  with  justice  has 
come  patriotism,  and  with  patriotism  assured  strength  and 
length  of  days.  She  has  stayed  the  rushing  waves  of  iron 
rule  in  her  sister  states  of  South  America.  She  has  become 
the  breakwater  against  European  spoliation  and  conquest  on 
this  side  of  the  ocean.  She  is  destined  to  rule  the  American 
continent  north  and  south,  for  this  continent  is  her  domain. 
North  America  has  become  the  home  of  the  Anglo-Ameri- 
can race.  In  time  we  shall  all  belong  to  one  family,  which 
shall  have  the  same  civilization,  the  same  language,  the  same 
religion,  the  same  habits,  the  same  manners,  and  from  which 
thought  will  circulate  in  the  same  form  and  betray  itself  in 
the  same  colors.  These  results,  with  our  memories  of  Wash- 
ington, and  Jefferson  and  Monroe,  and  Lincoln,  shall  be- 
come bonds  of  union  so  strong  that  neither  wars  of  con- 
quest nor  wars  of  ambition  can  break  them  asunder.  Al- 
ready she  has  reached  the  realization  of  the  vision  of  John 
Bright:  “I  see  one  vast  confederation  stretching  from  the 
frozen  north  in  unbroken  lines  to  the  glowing  south,  and 
from  the  stormy  billows  of  the  Atlantic  westward  to  the 
calmer  waters  of  the  Pacific;  I see  one  people  and  one  law 
and  one  language  and  one  faith,  and  all  over  that  wide  con- 
tinent the  home  of  freedom  and  a refuge  for  the  oppressed  of 
every  race  and  every  clime.” 


“the;  united  states  of  America.”  207 

“There  is  a land  of  every  land  the  pride ; 

Beloved  of  heav’n  o’er  all  the  world  beside. 

* * * * * * 

Where  shall  that  land,  that  spot  of  earth  be  found? 

Art  thou  a man?  A patriot?  Look  around. 

Oh,  thou  shalt  find,  howe’er  thy  footsteps  roam 

That  land  thy  country,  and  that  spot  thy  home.” 

“THE  LAWYER  OF  THE  SOUTH;  What  He  Has 
Been,  Is  Now  and  Expects  to  Be.” 

Response  by  Hon.  Hill  Montague,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  at  the  first  annual  ban- 
quet of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of  America,  at  Detroit,  August  15,  1895. 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : When  I was 

requested  the  other  day  to  respond  to  this  toast,  I did  not 
know  that  I would  be  called  upon  to  act  upon  that  much- 
abused  committee,  known  as  the  Committee  on  Permanent 
Organization  of  this  Convention,  and  our  duties  have  been 
so  arduous  that  I have  not  had  time  to  write  my  remarks, 
and  I have  almost  lost  my  voice  this  afternoon  in  trying 
to  prevent  our  getting  apart  too  much.  And  while  so  many 
have  already  gone,  yet  the  beating  of  my  heart  on  this  occa- 
sion would  not  allow  me  to  keep  my  seat  when  asked  to 
respond  to  this  sentiment.  It  is  a big  subject,  “The  Lawyer 
of  the  South : What  He  Has  Been,  Is  Now,  and  Expects  to 
Be.”  It  was  in  the  early  dawn  of  this  century  that  the 
Southern  lawyer  became  known  as  one  of  the  strong  arms 
of  our  Government.  It  was  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
a little  more  than  a hundred  years  ago,  that  a Southern 
lawyer  in  old  St.  John’s  Church,  Richmond,  stood  up  and 
said  in  that  tempestuous  crowd,  “Give  me  liberty  or  give 
me  death.”  I am  afraid  some  of  you  will  echo  that  senti- 
ment here  before  long.  It  was  a Southern  lawyer  who 
penned  the  Bill  of  Rights,  that  wonderful  instrument  that 
guarantees  to  us  freedom  of  conscience,  of  speech  and  of 
.the  press.  It  was  a Southern  lawyer  who  penned  that  re- 


208 


MODEL  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


markable  document,  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It 
would  take  too  long  to  run  along  this  list,  but  we  might 
mention  the  names  of  Patrick  Henry,  of  Madison,  of  Mon- 
roe, and  of  Sargent  Prentice,  men  who  have  honored  the 
Southern  land,  but  no  less  honored  our  whole  united  Union. 
And  what  shall  I say  of  the  lawyers  of  to-day?  In  order  to 
tell  you  of  the  lawyers  of  to-day  I must  needs  take  you  back 
in  your  thoughts  a little  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  when 
the  strong  tide  of  war  burst  over  the  Southland,  and  for  four 
long  years  this  country  knew  a civil  strife  unequaled  in  the 
annals  of  history.  But  the  Southern  lawyer  went  out  into 
our  battlefields,  many  of  them  spilt  their  life’s  blood  there  in 
defense  of  what  they  believed  to  be  right,  but  on  that  mem- 
orable day  at  Appomattox  they  yielded  up  the  sword  to  the 
valorous  Grant,  the  man  who  received  it  with  so  much  mag- 
nanimity from  our  honored  Lee.  (Applause.)  After  they 
had  silently  stacked  their  arms  they  took  down  their  musty 
books  and  started  again  the  practice  of  law.  And  to-day  we 
have  men  there  who  are  honoring  their  profession.  Men 
who,  while  they  have  the  warm  blood  of  the  South,  yet  are 
more  progressive,  more  industrious,  and  more  in  keeping 
with  the  forward  march  of  the  times.  We  might  mention  to 
you  the  men  to  to-day,  among  them  William  L.  Wilson, 
John  W.  Daniel,  Speaker  Crisp,  Senator  Morgan,  and  others 
equally  great.  But  we  must  pass  on.  Among  the  distin- 
guished law  writers  of  the  South  of  the  present  day,  and  of 
the  days  that  are  passed  and  gone,  your  minds  will  recall 
those  of  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  the  man  who  has  given  us  the 
foremost  work  on  jurisprudence;  and  then  John  D.  Miner, 
of  my  own  State,  who  has  furnished  us  with  his  “Institutes”; 
and  J.  W.  Daniel,  whose  “Negotiable  Instruments”  are  ac- 
cepted as  authority  in  every  State  in  this  Union.  And  now 
let  me  say — I have  only  spoken  seven  minutes;  I always 
close  on  time — let  me  say  that  this  is  not  the  time  nor  the 
place  to  make  long  speeches  at  this  late  hour,  but  it  has  done 
my  heart  good  to  come  here  from  the  South  and  to  tell  you 


209 


"the  ladies/' 

that  out  of  the  ashes  of  the  Old  South  there  has  arisen  a New 
South  and  loyal  to  the  new  Union,  and  to-day  we  can  shake 
hands  and  march  on  to  victory  and  to  success,  and  woe  be 
to  the  outsider  who  comes  against  us.  (Applause.)  Let  me 
say,  Mr.  Toastmaster  and  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  bidding 
you  adieu,  that  I trust  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  that 
each  lawyer  here  present  may  so  practise  his  profession 
through  honesty,  integrity  and  industry  as  to  be  able  to 
chisel  out  of  the  rough-hewn  rocks  of  life  a valuable  and 
successful  career.  (Applause.) 


“THE  LADIES:  May  Their  Virtues,  Like  Their  Sleeves, 
Never  Grow  Less.” 

Response  by  Hon.  Ernest  T.  Florance,  of  New  Orleans,  at  the  first  annual 
banquet  of  the  Commercial  Law  League  of  America,  at  Detroiit, 
August  15,  1895. 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  beautiful  columns,  empty  chairs  and 
tables,  and  all  that  is  left — left  of  the  six  hundred — I am 
going  to  get  an  audience  if  I have  to  count  them  all  in.  I 
echo  the  sentiment  of  Patrick  Henry,  for  if  we  do  not  soon 
give  you  liberty  I am  afraid  we  will  give  you  death.  I was 
puzzled  when  I heard  the  applause  with  which  my  rising  was 
greeted.  I thought  at  first  it  was  due  to  the  fact  the  senti- 
ment was  the  ladies,  and  then  I remembered  it  was  the  last 
toast  of  the  evening.  I have  not  understood  why  a person 
of  my  sex  was  asked  to  respond  to  this  toast.  It  is  many 
and  many  a year  since  I was  a lady,  and  judging  from  the 
little  I know  of  them,  they  are  generally  accustomed  to  an- 
swer for  themselves,  and  judging  from  those  that  we  have 
had  with  us  to-day,  who  came  up  and  voted  like  little  men — 
and  some  of  them  voted  twice  on  the  same  question — I think 
they  could  have  taken  charge  of  the  sentiment  in  their  own 
favor.  But  who  can  think  of  woman  without  remembering 
those  beautiful  lines  of  the  poet: 


210 


MODEE  BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


Oh,  woman,  in  our  hours  of  ease, 

Uncertain,  coy  and  hard  to  please, 

But  grown  at  last  familiar  with  her  face, 

We  first  endure,  then  pity  and  then  embrace. 
(Laughter.)  My  friend,  Mr.  Montague,  tells  me  I have 
mixed  up  two  quotations,  but  when  it  comes  to  the  question 
of  women,  I am  very  likely  to  mix  up  everything.  From 
the  land  of  the  magnolia  to  the  land  of  the  pine,  from  the 
great  gulf  of  the  Southland  to  the  great  lakes  of  the  North- 
land, from  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  land,  I carry  to 
woman  this  message  from  our  profession:  In  the  words  of 
Ruth  to  Naomi,  Where  thou  goest  will  we  go,  and  where 
thou  dwellest  there  will  we  dwell;  thy  people  (particularly 
thy  mother-in-law)  will  be  our  people,  and  thy  will  our  will; 
and  when  thou  diest  we  shall  die,  and  where  thou  art  buried 
we  will  be  buried,  and,  for  my  own  part,  as  soon  as  that 
happens,  I am  ready  to  get  buried.  (Applause  and  laugh- 
ter.) One  of  our  friends  has  told  you  a beautiful  tale.  I 
will  tell  you  another.  When  the  alphabet  was  first  made 
there  was  a great  controversy  among  the  letters  as  to  which 
one  was  to  form  the  most  important  word.  The  first  letter 
of  it  said,  “I  am  the  first,  and  should  form  the  most  import- 
ant.” “No,”  said  the  middle  letter,  “I  am  the  center  of  all 
things,  and  I should  have  that  right.”  “No,”  said  the  last, 
“I  am  the  end  of  all  things,  and  that  must  be  the  most 
important  thing  for  man.”  And  so  the  great  inventor  of 
language,  in  order  to  harmonize  that  strife,  created  the  word 
truth  out  of  the  first,  the  middle  and  the  last  letter  of  the 
alphabet.  And  whenever  I hear  that  story  I am  reminded 
of  woman,  not  particularly  on  account  of  her  connection 
with  truth,  but  because  she  is  the  beginning  and  the  center 
and  the  end  of  all  things  that  concern  man.  I suppose  you 
will  ask  what  has  this  to  do  with  woman?  I don’t  know. 

I don’t  know  anything  about  women,  and  I never  saw  a man 
who  did  know  anything  about  them.  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.) She  to  me  has  always  been  a terra  cotta — Mr. 


2 1 1 


“THE  EADIES.” 

Montague  again  nudges  me  and  says  I mean  terra  incognita. 
Well,  if  ‘‘she”  refers  to  the  new  woman — she  is  a terror  any- 
how, and  the  more  you  attempt  to  explore  her  the  less  you 
will  find  out  about  her.  I believe  thoroughly  in  the  words 
of  Mr.  Nye,  “There  ain’t  no  telling  what  a woman  is  going 
to  do  until  she  has  done  it,  and  then  it  ain’t  no  use.”  A 
clever  man  once  told  me  that  an  after-dinner  speech  should 
consist  of  a jest,  an  anecdote  and  a sentiment.  I have  re- 
versed them  two  or  three  times  in  my  remarks,  and  with 
your  permission,  Mr.  Chairman,  I will  end  with  an  anecdote. 
At  the  end  of  the  last  war  one  of  the  colored  soldiers,  who 
fit  nobly,  returned  to  his  old  master.  The  master  said: 
“Pompey,  you  were  in  the  war,  were  you  not?”  “Oh,  yes, 
I was  in  de  wah.”  “Did  you  fight?”  “Oh,  yes,  I was  darh.” 
“And  did  you  do  your  duty,  Pompey?”  “Oh,  yes,  yes;  I 
obeyed  orders.”  “Ah,  now,  give  me  an  instance.”  “Well, 
boss,  in  one  of  the  battles,  when  the  shot  was  coming  mighty 
thick,  the  captain  he  said  to  us  boys,  ‘Strike  for  your  country 
and  your  homes.’  Most  of  the  other  fellows  struck  for  de 
country,  but  I struck  for  my  home.”  Now,  I advise  you  all 
at  this  late  hour,  my  friends,  to  strike  for  your  homes. 


^Speeches  and*£ 
^Speech  Making^ 


By  Judge  J.  W.  Donovan. 


No  book  of  interest  to  lawyers,  law  students,  or  young  men  gener- 
ally, published  within  recent  years,  has  obtained  a more  immediate 
and  wide-spread  popularity  than  Judge  Donovan’s  “Speeches  and 
Speech  Making.”  It  seems  to  have  made  an  instant  hit.  This  is 
doubtless  because  it  is  a practical  book,  and  gives  ideas,  suggestions 
and  helps  both  as  to  preparing  and  delivering  speeches.  Judge 
Donovan  has  sought  in  writing  this  book  to  give  young  men  who 
are  ambitious  to  become  speakers  something  that  will  be  of  prac- 
tical help  to  them  in  attaining  that  end.  In  addition  to  the  ideas 
and  suggestions  as  to  the  preparation  and  delivery  of  speeches,  it 
contains  examples  of  speeches  for  different  occasions,  and  altogether 
contains  many  helps  for  one  wishing  to  become  a successfu 
speaker.  Men  who  are  frequently  called  upon  to  make  speeches 
and  what  lawyer,  young  or  old,  is  not,  will  find  this  book  valuable. 
A man  who  intends  or  expects  to  make  many  speeches  cannot  begin 
his  preparation  too  early,  for  when  called  upon  he  has  no  time  to 
prepare,  and  must  depend  upon  the  preparation  of  times  past.  This 
book  will  aid  one  to  prepare  for  such  occasions.  The  sooner  a man 
begins  to  prepare,  the  better,  for  he  cannot  become  a good  public 
speaker  at  a bound.  Public  speakers  are  male  as  well  as  born. 


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The  Comic 
Biackstone 


By  Gilbert  A’Beckett. 


THIS  is  a book  that  was  written  more  for  the  entertainment 
than  the  instruction  of  lawyers  and  law  students,  and  the 
author  being  a true  humorist,  has  made  it  very  interesting. 
It  is  amazing  to  note  how  many  opportunities  for  fun  he  has  found 
in  the  Commentaries.  It  may  be  as  dry  as  ‘ ‘ the  dry  bones  of  the 
law  " to  one  who  has  never  studied  law,  but  to  the  lawyer  and  law 
student  it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  amusing  books  ever 
written.  To  the  lawyer  or  law  student,  however,  it  will  be  found 
to  be  more  than  merely  amusing.  It  is  also  a practical  aid  or  sup- 
plement to  the  study  of  Biackstone.  It  is  remarkable  how  thor- 
oughly a point  of  law  may  be  impressed  on  one’s  mind  by  a joke, 
and  A’Beckett’s  Comic  Biackstone  is  full  of  instances  of  this  kind. 
It  contains  many  hearty  laughs  and  much  good  law,  and  no  lawyer 
or  law  student  who  has  a touch  of  humor  in  him  can  fail  to  appre- 
ciate it  highly. 

Price,  handsomely  bound  in  cloth,  $1.25. 


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Publishers, 


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^hoosing  a 

pecialty. 


THIS  is  tlie  title  of  a book • 
let  containing  eleven  ar- 
ticles, treating  of  eleven  dif- 
ferent specialties  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law,  and  the  various 
considerations  that  a man 
should  weigh  in  determining 
upon  any  particular  line  of 
practice  as  his  specialty,  such 
as  education  and  special  quali- 
fications required,  peculiarities 
of  the  practice,  if  any,  nature 
of  the  work,  the  class  of  clients 
to  be  dealt  with,  compensation 
to  be  expected,  etc.  These 
articles  were  written  by  emi- 
nent men  in  their  particular 
line  of  practice,  and  first  ap- 
peared in  The  Law  Student’s 
Helper,  where  they  attracted 
much  attention  throughout  the 
country,  and  were  widely 
quoted.  The  articles  and  their 
authors  are  as  follows : 


Criminal  Law,  by  John  G.  Hawley, 
one  of  the  authors  of  Hawley  & 
McGregor  on  Criminal  Law,  De- 
troit, Mich. 

Mining  Law,  by  John  B.  Clayberg, 
Helena,  Montana. 

Patent  Law,  by  Albert  H.  Walker, 
author  of  Walker  on  Patents,  Hart- 
ford, Ct. 

Medical  Jurisprudence,  by  Marshall  D. 
Ewell,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Dean  Kent  Col- 
lege of  Law,  Chicago. 

Real  Estate  Law,  by  Darius  H.  Pin- 
grey,  author  of  Pingrey  on  Real 
Property,  Bloomington,  111. 

Commercial  Law,  by  Hon.  Daniel  K. 
Tenny,  Madison, Wis.,  late  of  Tenny, 
McConnell  & Coffeen,  Chicago. 

Law  Teaching,  by  Prof.  Edwin  H. 
Woodruff,  of  the  Cornell  Law 
School,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

Insurance  Law,  by  D.  Ostrander,  of 
Chicago. 

Admiralty  Law,  by  Martin  Clark,  of 
Clinton  & Clark,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Corporation  Law,  by  Charles  F.  Math 
ewson,  of  Strong,  Harmon  & 
Mathewson,  of  New  York. 

General  Practice,  by  John  B.  Green, 
of  Cole  & Green,  of  New  York. 

This  list  of  papers  from  writers  of 
such  standing  and  ability,  cannot  fail  to 
contain  much  of  interest  to  every  law- 
yer and  law  student. 


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esting  and  notable  events  of  a particularly  notable  Cong 
▼iz : the  Forty-Second  Congress.  This  Congress  sat  during 
famous  Reconstruction  Period,  and  the  ability  of  its  mem 
together  with  the  importance  of  the  questions  then  agiti 
the  country,  united  to  produce  many  exciting  scenes,  r 
great  debates,  many  flights  of  eloquence,  and  many  flashes  of  wit  and  repartee 
between  the  members,  among  whom  were  some  of  the  greatest  men  whose 
names  illumine  our  history.  To  the  student  of  American  history,  and  to  the 
student  of  eloquence,  this  book  will  have  an  absorbing  interest.  Illustrated 
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months.  The  nature  of  its  contents  is  amply  indicated  by  its  title. 
Every  page  literally  flashes  and  scintillates  with  the  ready  wit  of 
some  leader  of  the  bar  or  some  brilliant  occupant  of  the  bench.  Every 
one  of  its  two  hundred  pages  contains  many  hearty  laughs  for  the  reader. 
Such  a fund  of  anecdote  and  story  will  not  be  found  within  the  covers  of 
any  other  book  now  on  the  market.  It  contains  some  of  the  purest, 
brightest  and  happiest  examples  of  wit  and  humor  ever  collected  by  an 
appreciative  editor.  One  who  often  speaks  in  public  will  find  these  stories 
mirth-provoking,  and  every  one  knows  the  value  of  a taking  story  properly 
interjected  into  a public  speech,  or  in  conversation. 


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some. $7.00  delivered. 

One  Hundred  and  Forty-four  Eminent  American)  English 
and  Canadian  Lawyers. 

Two  fine  engravings,  28x38  inches,  with  each  portrait  24x34 
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$10.50  delivered. 

The  Present  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

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Blackstone. 

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delivered. 

Joseph  H.  Choate. 

Photogravure,  8x64  inches,  printed  on  heavy  paper,  with 
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Frederick  R.  Coudert. 

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The  Present  Justices  of  the  United  5tates  Supreme  Court. 

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Chief  Justice  Marshall. 

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Price,  $2.00. 

Chancellor  James  Kent. 

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THE  SPRAGUE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

Detroit,  Michigan. 


Quiz  i— Quiz  i— Quiz  i 


DO  YOU  KNOW  of  any  better  method  of  impressing  upon  your  mind  what 
you  have  read  than  questions  and  answers  ? We  do  not,  and  this  method 
has  been  endorsed  by  all  thinkers  since  Socrates.  And  how  much  more 
Valuable  it  is  when  questions  have  been  selected  by  a master,  so  that  they  cover 
Just  the  points  that  you  should  remember,  and  bring  out  all  the  phases  of  eaoh 
subject,  many  of  which  you  would  never  notice  in  merely  studying  the  text-book, 
and  show  its  many  sides  and  in  different  lights  in  a way  that  is  most  beneficial  to 
the  student,  but  which  is  foreign  to  the  nature  of  text-books.  But  a properly 
conducted  Quiz  should  not  be  a mere  aid  to  the  memory.  It  should  not  be  oon- 
fined  to  showing  the  student  how  much  or  how  little  he  knows.  It  should  be 
instructive  in  the  highest  sense.  Naturally,  the  answering  of  the  questions  com- 
pels the  student  to  both  remember  and  think,  but  the  questions  should  also  be  so 
framed  as  to  teach  him  to  think,  as  by  suggesting  new  phases  of  the  subject  and 
new  lines  of  thought,  and  by  calling  for  reasons  and  principles  as  well  as  mere 
rules.  The  questioner  should  never  be  satisfied  with  a mere  parrot-like  repetition 
of  the  text-book,  and  the  questions  should  be  so  framed  that  that  will  not  be 
•ufficient. 

With  these  principles  in  mind  we  have  had  prepared  a series  of  quiz  books 
which  we  call  the  Quizzer  Series.  That  they  are  helpful  to  the  students,  we  have 
the  highest  evidence,  viz. : large  sales  and  students  who  have  bought  one  book, 
coming  back  for  subsequent  numbers.  Each  book  consists  of  two  parts,  Part  I 
containing  the  questions  and  being  interleaved  with  blank  pages  on  which  the  stu- 
dent may  write  his  answers,  and  Part  II  containing  the  correct  answers  and 
explanations. 

Here  is  the  list.  Some  new  ones  are  just  out.  You  can’t  do  the  best  work 
without  them. 

Have  you  them  all  ? Fill  out  your  set  QUICK. 


Blackstone  Quizzer  A (on  Book  1 of  Blackstone), 

“ “ B “ 2 

“ “ C “ 3 “ 

“ “ D “ 4 

Kent  Quizzer  E (on  book  1 of  Kent’s  Commentaries) 
“ “ F “ 2 

“ “ G “ 3 

“ “ H “ 4 

Quizzer  No.  1.  Domestic  Relations, 

“ No.  2.  Criminal  Law, 

“ No.  3.  Torts, 

“ No.  4.  Real  Property, 

“ No.  5.  Constitutional  Law, 

“ No.  6.  Contracts, 

“ No.  8.  Common  Law  Reading, 

“ No.  9.  Corporations,  - 

“ No.  10.  Bills,  Notes  and  Checks, 

“ No.  11.  Equity,  .... 

No.  12.  Agency,  ... 

“ No.  13.  Partnership,  - 

**  No.  14.  Sales  of  Personal  Property, 

“ No.  15.  Evidence, 

55?"*  OTHERS  TO  FOLLOW 


50  cts. 
50  cte. 
50  Cts. 
50  cts. 
50  cts. 
50  cts. 
50  cts. 
60  cte. 
60  cts. 
50  cts. 
50  cts. 
50  cte. 
60  cts. 
50  cts. 
50  cts. 
50  cte. 
50  cts. 
50  cte. 
60  cts. 
50  ste. 
50  cte. 
50  cte. 


Address,  THE  SPRAGUE  PUB.  CO.,  Detroit,  Hich. 


Don’t  Vou  Chink 

That  a magazine  that  contains  all  the  news  of  the  commercial  law  world, 
items  of  interest  from  all  sections,  helpful  articles  and  suggestions, 
and  new  ideas  as  to  how  to  get  business  and  how  to  handle  it  after  you 
get  it,  is  worth  $1.00  per  year  to  you? 


^ou  Heed 

Some  progressive  paper  dealing  with  the  new  questions  and  many 
sides  of  your  business,  giving  you  the  best  ideas  of  the  best  men  in  the 
business,  and  telling  you  what  others  are  doing  in  the  march  to  success. 
You  can't  keep  up  with  the  times  and  with  your  competitors  without  it. 

Cbe  American  Legal  Hews, 

Formerly  The  Collector  and  Commercial  Lawyer,  aims  to  fill  your 
needs  in  this  respect  exactly.  It  gives  you  all  the  news.  It  gives 
you  new  ideas  and  helpful  suggestions.  As  the  official  organ  of  the 
Michigan  Press  Association  says,  ‘-The  Ameiican  Legal  News  is  the 
Bible  of  the  collection  and  commercial  law  business.”  Its  editor  is 
William  C.  Sprague,  its  assistant  editor,  Griffith  Ogden  Ellis. 
Every  man  needs  his  class  paper.  The  American  Legal  News  has 
no  rival  in  its  class. 

Subscribe  at  Once.  THE  SPRAGUE  PUBLISHING  CO., 

*^00_Pc^Year:  DETROIT,  MICH. 


f g A Monthly  Magazine 

for  Law  Students  and 


YonngMenGenerally. 


This  magazine  interests  law  students  because  it  gives  them  practical  help 
and  suggestions  about  their  work  ; because  it  gives  them  every  month  a variety 
of  interesting  reading  matter  selected  with  particular  regard  to  their  needs  and 
to  their  tastes ; because  it  discusses  matters  from  their  standpoint,  and  so  has 
made  itself  recognized  as  the  especial  magazine  for  and  organ  of  the  law  students 
of  the  country. 

Among  its  special  departments  are:  “Short  Talks  on  Current  Events  of 
Interest  to  Law  Students,”  “ Law  School  Notes,”  giving  all  the  news  from  the  law 
schools;  “ Law  Students’  Societies,”  giving  the  doings  of  the  law  students’  societies 
of  the  country,  with  suggestions  and  helps  as  to  the  work  of  such  societies; 
“Questions  Answered  and  Difficulties  Met  for  Students  of  the  Law  ;”  “The  8elf 
Examiner,”  giving  questions  and  answers  selected  from  bar  examinations.  In 
addition  to  these  special  departments  it  gives  every  month  a great  variety  of 
interesting  and  practical  miscellaneous  articles. 

That  it  is  popular  with  its  subscribers  and  worthy  of  your  patronage  fs 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  it  has  attained  a greater  circulation  than  any  other 
legal  magazine  in  the  country.  Its  editor-in-chief  is  Wm.  C.  Sprague,  president 
of  the  Sprague  Correspondence  School  of  Law,  and  its  assistant  editor  is  Griffith 
Ogden  Ellis,  vice-principal  of  that  school.  They  know  what  law  students  want. 
You  will  like  the  magazine. 


x^L&w  Studeq 


'TFT 


Helper. 


Subscribe  at  Once.  THE  SPRAGUE  PUBLISHING  CO., 

yi.00  Per  Year._  DETROIT,  MICH. 


SSi  /Iftonograpbs 


Hawley’s  Law  of  Arrest.— Price,  75c. 

This  is  a little  book  of  70  pages  by  John  G.  Hawley,  the  distinguished  legal 
writer,  stating  the  principles  or  the  law  of  arrest,  including  the  rights  and  duties 
of  police  officers  in  and  before  making  arrests,  the  rights  and  duties  of  private 
citizens  in  making  arrests,  the  rights  of  individuals  in  the  matter  of  being  arrested, 
the  liabilities  of  officers  and  citizens  for  false  imprisonment,  warrants— their  form 
and  when  necessary  and  when  not  necessary  to  the  legality  of  the  arrest,  rights  of 
prisoners,  etc.  Thousands  of  copies  have  been  sold  to  the  Police  Departments 
throughout  the  country,  to  lawyers  and  law  students  and  to  the  general  public. 

Hawley’s  Law  for  Tenants— Price,  75c.  A book  of  78  pages  bound  in  leather, 
explaining  clearly  the  mutual  rights  and  obligations  of  landlord  and  tenant  in  such 
plain,  simple  language  that  every  person  interested  may  understand  the  law  on 
the  subject  and  guard  himself  against  entering  into  an  improvident  contract.  It 
is  published  with  a view  of  furnishing  a safe  guide  to  the  layman  as  well  as  a good 
reference  book  to  the  lawyer  and  the  law  student. 

Hawley’s  Law  for  Land  Buyers— Price,  75c.  This  little  book  contains  56 
pages,  and  treats  fully  of  the  law  of  Real  Property  as  met  withjin  every  day  trans- 
actions in  real  estate,  it  having  to  do  with  the  contract,  the  title,  the  deed,  the 
mortgage,  fixtures,  right  of  possession,  warranties,  homestead,  record,  etc.  Every 
dealer  in  the  land  should  be  possessed  of  this  little  treatise.  Bound  in  leather. 

Shall  1 Study  Law?— Price,  50c.  By  one  who  has  tried.  Paper  bound,  69 
pages.  The  book  is  written  for  young  men  who  are  thinking  of  taking  up  the  law 
as  a special  study,  and  giving  reasons  for  and  against  it,  together  with  much  prac- 
tical instruction,  enabling  young  men  to  know  what  to  do  in  answer  to  this  question. 

Our  National  Charters- Price,  50c.  This  book  contains  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  the  Constitution  and  Amendments, 
Washington’s  Farewell  Address,  the  Dictatorship  Conferred  on  Washington,  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 

Requirements  for  Admission  to  the  Bar— Price,  50c.  Giving  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  all  the  States  and  Territories. 

How  to  Prepare  for  a Civil  Service  Examination— Price,  50c.  Paper,  100 

pages. 

How  to  Build  Up  a Successful  Commercial  Law  Practice— Price,  50c.  Paper, 

very  practical.  By  A X.  Dunner. 

The  Vest  Pocket  Parliamentary  Pointer— Price,  25c.  This  little  book  answers 

at  a glance  the  intricate  questions  of  Parliamentary  Law,  without  diagrams  or 
reference  marks  to  confuse  or  mislead.  It  is  so  small  it  can  be  concealed  in  the 
hand,  and  referred  to  during  a meeting  without  attracting  attention.  It  contains 
about  22  pages,  and  measures  about  2p£x4  inches.  It  uses  a system  of  abbrevia- 
tions, condensing  parliamentary  rules  into  the  smallest  space. 

The  British  Constitution— By  Amos  Dean,  LL.  D.  The  British  constitution 
is  one  of  the  greatest  monuments  of  wondiy  wisdom  that  the  centuries  have 
to  bequeath  to  us.  It  is  the  work  of  thirty  generations  of  statesmen.  No  stu- 
dent of  political  philosophy  should  omit  to  study  it.  This  makes  an  excellent 
text  book.  Cloth  60c,  delivered. 

The  Sprague  Publishing  Go., 

Publishers  and  Booksellers,  DETROIT,  MICH. 


♦♦♦♦  A New  Student's  Book  on..** 


Criminal  Law 


This  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  years  of  study,  practice  and 
teaching  of  the  criminal  law,  and  is  by  men  who  are  acknowledged 
masters  of  their  subject. 

It  was  written  for  the  use  of  students  rather  than  practitioners, 
and  so  deals  with  principles  instead  of  mere  precedents.  Mr.  Haw- 
ley and  Mr.  McGregor  are  both  deep  students  of  this  subject  and 
present  it  in  a clear,  systematic  and  scientific  manner,  bringing  out 
reasons  and  principles  in  bold  relief.  They  have  not,  however,  dis- 
dained the  use  of  precedents  for  illustrative  purposes,  but  principles 
are  always  uppermost,  as  they  should  be  in  all  books  for  students, 
if  not  for  practitioners. 

Adopted  in  eight  law  schools,  and  the  first  edition  exhausted 
within  less  than  a year,  which  is  powerful  evidence  of  its  superiority 
and  popularity. 


The  Best  Book  on  the  Subject  for  Students. 


BY 


JOHN  G.  HAWLEY, 


Professor  of  Criminal  Law  in  the  Detroit  College  of  Law,  first 
Editor  of  the  American  Criminal  Reports,  and  author  of  numer- 
ous standard  works  on  separate  branches  of  the  Criminal  Law; 

AND 


malcolm  McGregor, 


Also  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Detroit  College  of  Law. 


Bound  in  Cloth,  - $8,50 

Bound  in  Law  Sheep,  3.00 


The  Sprague  Publishing  Co., 


Booksellers  and  Publishers, 


DETROIT,  MICH, 


BROOH’S 

PHILOSOPHY 
OF  LAW  .... 

Broom’s  Philosophy  of  Law  contains  256  pages,  with  an  index,  in 
all  271  pages.  It  is  meant  for  perusal  not  only  by  law  students,  but 
by  the  public.  It  exhibits  the  elements  of  the  existing  law  and  it 
attempts  to  adapt  legal  knowledge  to  the  ordinary  concerns  of  life. 
The  author  of  it  is  Herbert  Broom,  LL.D.,  author  of  Broom’s  Legal 
Maxims  and  Broom’s  Commentaries  on  the  Common  Law,  and  the  text 
consists  of  notes  of  lectures  delivered  by  him  during  twenty-three 
years  as  a professor  of  the  common  law.  The  book  contains  nine 
chapters,  the  headings  of  which  are  as  follows  : 


CHAPTER  I.  Prefatory  Observations  Concern- 
ing the  Province  of  the  Law,  that  is,  with 
what  legal  science  concerns  itself  the 
source  of  the  common  law,  its  doctrines,  etc. 

CHAPTER  II.  A Contract— what  it  is. 

CHAPTER  III.  riercantile  Contracts. 

CHAPTER  IV.  Written  Instruments. 

CHAPTER  V.  Legal  Principles  Applied  to  Con- 
tracts. 

CHAPTER  VI.  A Tort— what  it  is,  including 
negligence,  malice,  fraud,  etc. 

CHAPTER  VH.  Legal  Principles  Applied  to 
Torts. 

CHAPTER  VIII.  A Crime-what  It  is,  and  un- 
der this  a treatment  of  the  various  kinds  of 
crimes. 

CHAPTER  IX.  Legab  Principles  Applied  to 
Crimes. 


A good  book  for  review  work  or 
as  a first  book  for  students.  . . . 


Cloth,  $2.00. 


The  Sprague  Publishing  Co., 

DETROIT,  MICH. 


